Aoitsuki Yurai
by SolusLupa Kouken
Summary: *Being Rewritten* A dramatic tale of romance, adventure, and a really screwy prophecy. A young girl learns that the odd quirks she grew up with are more troublesome than she thought and things are not always what they seem. **NEW Chapter 10 UP**
1. Shinzui Ookami

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. Shinzui and all original characters belong to me.

Author's Notes: This is Aoitsuki Yurai version 2.0... Well... More like 4.0 since I've gone through a lot of revamps. XD Either way, this is the final version of this fanfic. Shinzui just wouldn't leave me alone until I've properly told her story and I didn't want to continue the saga until I got everything squared away in this fanfic. There will be some things that are the same, but I've altered the writing a lot. However, the basic plot, plot points, and pairings are the same. I've merely refined what I've already written. =D I hope the rewrite will make more sense and have better flow.

Also just to clarify, I've finally read the entire manga, so I'm going with what happened in there (plus it's easier to get references). I've had to give the first two chapters a complete overhaul because of that, but I want to be as accurate as possible. The story takes place AFTER the series ends. It's a little vague about what month it is, so I'm going to take a few artistic liberties... Well, writer liberties I guess. I'm also making up the colors of Keiko's uniform because the manga is black and white and there is not a colored version of her uniform. This story will give away things that happen at the end of the manga, so there are spoilers.

I am well aware that it is very rare for someone to skip a grade in the Japanese school system, but I don't want to change Shinzui's age because that would mean changing the timeline I've made as well as a lot of information, so it's staying the way it is. Besides, this is based off of a manga, normal rules and logic of reality don't always apply.

Please enjoy!

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The peaceful quiet of the early morning was broken as a loud, blaring voice of a singer woke a dreamer from their comfortable sleep. An arm slid out from the depths of a pile of blankets, the hand searching for a way to silence the disturbance. It finally succeeded by hitting the snooze button before withdrawing into the folds of the blankets and a form shifted underneath them to fall back into sleep. Five minutes later, a new voice that was even worse burst forth from the speakers and the hand came back, but only succeeded in knocking the clock off the desk instead of turning it off and the racket raged on.

"Freakin' hell," growled a groggy voice from the mass of blankets, "I hate this song. Nails on a chalkboard would more appealing than this singer."

The blankets were cast aside as a girl slowly sat up in the bed with a bleary look in her bright blue eyes. She gave a great yawn and rubbed her eyes to remove the sleep before sliding out of the bed. She stood up and stretched her arms up high, raising up on her toes a bit to extend the stretch to the rest of her slender, well-toned body. She scratched her head a bit, ruffling the burgundy hair that fell in a tangled mass to her waist. She finally stopped the terrible music when she picked up the clock and shut the radio alarm off.

"I hope my new school is worth the bother of getting up this early," muttered the redhead, setting the clock down and wandering to her door, "why did dad choose the school that starts earlier than my old one."

After grabbing a robe from the back of the door, the girl left the room in search of a shower. As she passed a room across from hers, a baritone voice came from behind the door:

"Shinzui, is that you?" it asked in a sharp tone.

The girl stopped and glared at the door with annoyance as she reluctantly replied. "Yes, dad, it's me. I'm going to take a shower now, so I can't talk."

There was shuffling in the room and when the knob jiggled, Shinzui fled into the bathroom, closing the door behind her as she heard the other open. Footsteps stopped by the door and her father's voice came from the other side, speaking in a firm tone.

"Shinzui. I need to talk to you before you leave."

"Haven't you done enough damage by transferring me to a new school?" snorted Shinzui, discarding her dirty clothes into a basket, "I appreciate that you're concerned about keeping me safe, but you should've talked to me first."

"I'm only thinking about what that delinquent would do to you," said her father in tense tone, "he's been getting too violent in past months. I thought that it would be good for you if-" He never finished the sentence.

"Stop while you're ahead, dad," interrupted Shinzui, glaring at the door, "I know you don't care if he hurts me because you've done it before. The only reason I never ended up in foster care is the fact that you made a promise to mom to take care of me." She went silent and stared at the mirror, running her hands over the pair of scars that curved along her cheekbones. With a sigh, she thought, _Maybe I should use make up on these this time so people don't ask questions_.

"Your mother wanted me to make sure no one hurt you," said her father shortly, but there was no masking the sadness in his voice.

"You say that all the time," sighed Shinzui, examining the faint scars scattered across her palms as if something had savagely torn bits of flesh away from the area, "yet you've hurt me so much." She shook her head and turned on the water. "Go away. I need to shower."

The girl heard footsteps retreat from the door and head downstairs. She stepped into the warm water and began to scrub her body clean, muttering:

"Mom, I still don't know what you saw in that man when you married him."

Shinzui hummed to herself as she rinsed the soap off her skin and then worked on her long hair. Once her shower had finished, she wrapped her hair up in a towel and dried herself off. The girl worked through a quick routine to take care of her skin and pulled on a robe, securing it shut with the belt as she left for her room. She closed and locked the door before going to her closet to find clean clothing. As she stood in front of it in her undergarments, Shinzui realized that she didn't have her new uniform.

"Damn," she muttered to herself with an exasperated sigh as she shook her head, "I'll have to wear my old one and get a stupid note from the office."

Shinzui fished out the black and red uniform of her old school and looked at it in disgust. The skirt was knife-pleated, ending a few inches below her knees and the long sleeved top had a sailor middy collar. The part of the uniform that annoyed her the most were the two bows that were on the front of the top and the back of the skirt. She glared at her reflection in disgust as she smoothed the shape of the fixed skirt bow.

_This uniform is way too girly, she thought, tying the other bow, Why can't they keep these things simple? The company needs a better designer... _She fought with the ribbon of the bow to shape it properly. _That won't use these damn bows. The inventor of this style should be damned to an eternity of wearing one...covered in bows._

Shinzui picked up a brush to begin the challenge of taming the mass of tangled strands. After several minutes of brushing, combing, and a lot of wincing, she managed to smooth the tangles into her straight hair. She tied her hair up into a ponytail with a black ribbon and braided it, finishing with a black rubber band. She tucked a partially bloomed white rose, which had some blue on the bottom half of the petals, in her hair bow, so it was barely visible and then looked at her reflection with satisfaction.

"Shinzui!" yelled her father's voice, "Hurry up!"

"I'm coming!" she answered with a shout, rolling her eyes, "Sheesh." She pulled on some dark red socks and slipped her feet into some slippers before grabbing her bag and running downstairs.

As the girl came clattering down the steps, a man with short, finely combed, dark auburn hair looked up at her and spoke:

"Amazing transformation. From a bed head to a fine young woman."

"Your unusual amount of flattery is creeping me out, dad," said Shinzui, sending a cold gaze at the man. "What are you up to now?"

Her father's dark gray eyes flashed with annoyance, but he maintained a pleasant expression.

"Am I not allowed to occasionally flatter my precious daughter?" he asked, giving her an odd smile.

"That's even creepier, dad," remarked Shinzui, sitting down to eat her breakfast, "I've seen this act before. Something's up and I want to know what you're plotting."

"Nothing," said her father, loftily and he paused a bit before continuing, "You know that rose you-"

Shinzui choked on her juice at these words. "Forget it!" She finished her piece of toast and stood up, "I'm not letting you get your hands on it! It's barely bloomed and I know you and your damn colleagues want to know how it lives like this, but it just does. Let it be. You told me yourself that mom had all sorts of weird plants, so how could this thing be unusual to you." Her words were more of a statement than a question.

The redhead snatched up her bag and turned to walk towards the door when her father grabbed her arm.

"They just want a small look at it," he said, smiling strangely, "If you'd just lend it to me for the day...I'd give it back to you tonight." He couldn't hide the stress in his eyes.

_What's with him?_ thought Shinzui, seeing the look in his eyes, but she pulled her arm away and said spoke aloud: "In your dreams, old man. I don't trust you with it!" She walked to the door and sat down to switch from her slippers to her black shoes. "See you later." She turned slightly to glare at her father. "Oh yeah, I'll say this again since you didn't get the message last week. Don't you dare send one of your lackeys to drag me home after school! Do you want me to send more of them to the hospital?" She stood up, pulled the door open, and slammed it behind her as she left.

"She really doesn't like you, Shoushiko," said a young man, walking out from a different room and looking at the man with his green eyes.

The speaker had long, dark brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail that fell to the end of his shoulder blades and looked to be a few years older than Shinzui. He was dressed in a black uniform with a white shirt and dark green tie. Shinzui's father looked at him before sitting down at the table and gesturing for the young man to sit.

"Let's talk about what I called you here for, Toraeru," said Shoushiko as the young man sat down.

"Yes, let's," said Toraeru, smirking a bit, "I'm very curious."

Shoushiko kept a steady expression, but his eyes narrowed slightly in dislike when he heard the tone in Toraeru's voice.

While the two men started their discussion, Shinzui was wandering down a sidewalk in the direction of her new school, looking bored with her eyes cast to the dull sky. _I wonder what the Daiichi Girls Academy is like_, she thought with a sigh, _I hope my new classmates won't be a bunch of brats. _She shrugged a bit._ Well, one good thing about transferring schools is that I can finally get away from Tenma_. Her musings were suddenly interrupted when a door opened and hit her in the face, knocking her backwards to the ground.

"What was that?" she heard a male voice say from the doorway.

Shinzui sat up a bit, rubbing her chin, which had taken the brunt of the impact, and looked up to see a pair of brown eyes peering at her from the door. The eyes belonged to a girl wearing a brown and white uniform that looked very familiar. The redhead got up, brushed herself off, and shoved her braid over her shoulder. She was a bit confused because she had clearly heard a male's voice, yet a female was standing before her.

"I'm sorry," said the girl at the door, pushing some short brown hair behind her ear, "We didn't know anyone was there."

"That's okay," answered Shinzui, smiling instead of unleashing her temper. _I don't want to make a scene this early in the morning_, she thought silently as she looked at the girl, but aloud she said, "Your uniform looks familiar. What school do you go to?"

"Daiichi Girl's Academy," replied the girl, smiling at her, "I'm Keiko Yukimora." She held out a hand to Shinzui.

_Well, here's one person who I may like,_ thought Shinzui, smiling, "I'm Shinzui Ookami. Nice to meet you." She put her hand out as well.

The girls shook hands, smiling, but then Shinzui noticed the back of Keiko's skirt being lifted up. The redhead suddenly moved forward and smacked the perpetrator in the head with her school bag just as Keiko whirled around with her now free hand raised, shouting angrily:

"Yusuke Urameshi! You should be _apologizing_ to her _not_ flipping my skirt!"

Shinzui looked down at her school bag victim and saw that it was a teenage boy wearing jeans and a white shirt. His jet black hair was slicked back and his dark brown eyes were looking up at Shinzui with surprise as he rubbed his head. He laughed as he got up and brushed his clothes off. Then he moved forward to get a closer look at the girl's face, causing her to take a step back.

"You beat Keiko to hitting me," he said, laughing, "I'm surprised you noticed before she did."

Both girls glared at Yusuke and he backed away with his hands raised in defense. He paused and glanced around when he caught a whiff of a rose scent because there weren't any flowers nearby. The boy saw the source immediately when Shinzui turned to talk to Keiko because the flower had shifted from it's hidden position during the girl's fall.

_What a weird thing to have in your hair_, thought Yusuke, staring at the flower, _It feels kind of weird._ While absorbed in his thoughts he completely missed the fact that Shinzui was now addressing him. _It's almost like an energy of some sort. Well, it's not doing anything, so I guess it's just a strange plant._ He gave a shrug.

"Was that a yes or a no?" asked Shinzui, raising an eyebrow.

"To what?" said the boy in reply, frowning in confusion as he finally realized she was speaking to him.

The redhead looked annoyed. "Were you even listening to my question?"

"Question?" repeated Yusuke. _I guess I missed it_, he thought.

Shinzui sighed and shook her head. "I asked if you went to the Daiichi Boys Academy." _Is this guy dumb or just weird?_ mused the girl.

"No," replied Yusuke, shaking his head, "I own a ramen stand."

"Where do you go to school?" asked Keiko, looking at Shinzui's uniform, "I don't recognize your uniform."

"I used to go to a school further away from here," answered Shinzui, "but I transferred to Daiichi and they have yet to send me the new uniform that my dad said he ordered last _month_." She rolled her eyes at the sky and sighed in exasperation. "The place must be run by monkeys."

"I bet it is," laughed Yusuke, walking over to Keiko, "What's with the rose in your hair?"

"Rose?" repeated Shinzui, feigning confusion. _How'd he see it?_ she thought, _I thought I tucked it down far enough._

"The one that's falling out of your hair," replied the boy, pointing at it.

"Falling out?" said Shinzui, feeling in her hair and found that the flower had shifted. _Ah, from the fall_, she thought as she pushed it back into place, making sure it was secure. "This is just something I like to keep around. Good luck charm. It's fake."

_Right, as if I couldn't tell a fake flower from a real one after being around Kurama for so long_, thought Yusuke, raising an eyebrow. _What a weird thing to hide._

"Do you know where the school is?" asked Keiko with a friendly smile, "Because you could walk there with us if you don't."

"I know the way," answered Shinzui, thankful for the girl's question, "But walking there with someone would be nice." _Besides, _she thought to herself_, Tenma is less likely to bother me if I'm with people. No doubt he's already noticed I'm not at school._

"Well," said Yusuke, walking down the sidewalk with Keiko, "Let's go. I'll walk you ladies to school before I go to work."

"All right," said the redhead, following Yusuke and Keiko in the direction of the school.

The trio chatted as they made their way to the school and Yusuke said goodbye and left once they reached the gates. Shinzui took a deep breath and followed Keiko toward the building, glancing around at the students that were milling around the entrance grounds. Slowly, the girls were starting to hone in on the unfamiliar face and uniform, which made the redhead feel uneasy.

_Now I'm getting nervous, _thought Shinzui, eyeing the students,_ I hope they stop staring soon. Not that I blame them. A transfer student in January is really unusual._

Keiko led Shinzui through the school and bid her farewell when they reached the main office. The girl sighed and went in to talk to the secretary. Getting the information took so long that the students had dispersed to their classrooms and the gates were closed once she was finished.

"Here's your locker and classroom information," said the woman at the desk, "sorry it took so long. Your file was misplaced." She handed the girl a map. "Your classroom is marked on the map and the teacher in there right now is Ms. Gentaru. Have a nice day."

_Just smile and nod at her_, thought Shinzui, but aloud she said, "Thank you."

The girl bowed a bit, taking a mental note that the office staff had already made a bad impression. She left the office and glanced down at the map in her hand that had her classroom circled on it. Shinzui wandered down the hallway, up some stairs, and finally reached her classroom. With a deep breath, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" asked a feminine voice as the door slid open to reveal a woman with black hair pulled into a meticulous bun, "Oh, new student I presume?" Her brown eyes looked annoyed and she didn't even let Shinzui respond. "Well, come in already so class can resume."

The girl did so and stood by the teacher's desk, looking out at the rest of the class. _Dear lord I hate this_, she thought.

"Class, this is a new student to our school," said the teacher, "how about introducing yourself?"

All the girls were staring at her with curiosity, which made Shinzui's nervousness even worse.

"Um... Right," said Shinzui, her cheeks turning a bit red as she stared at the large class in front of her, "My name's Shinzui Ookami and I recently transferred here from Yokogiru High." _Why me,_ she thought to herself as all eyes were fixed on her, _Being in the spotlight is fine when I'm on stage, but I hate it in the real world._

"Anything else you'd like to say?" asked the teacher, looking bored.

"Not really," replied Shinzui, shrugging, "If people want to get to know me then we can just chat during breaks." She smiled in a friendly way, thinking, _All I want to do is sit down and catch up with the subjects._

"Now that we've had an introduction," said Gentaru, "let's get back to our lesson. Miss Ookami, you may take the empty seat next to Miss Yukimora." She gestured to a seat in the fourth row next to a window.

_Thank god, _thought Shinzui, walking to the desk and sitting down._ It'll be good to be by someone I already know. She pulled out her notebook and began to write down the notes on the board._

The rest of the morning classes passed slowly and Shinzui avidly worked to catch up, but soon found herself getting bored during Mrs. Hagetaka's class. The teacher was a hook-nosed, gray haired older woman who inspired dislike among the majority of students because she had little patience with anything she believed frivolous. The redhead stared at the woman with a dull look in her eyes, writing down everything she was saying, but also drawing on the other page of her notebook. Her attention slowly drifted from Hagetaka's lecture to the pictures she was drawing in her notebook. As she finished the final dark lines of the picture, a shadow fell across her desk and she looked up into the angry, dark brown eyes of Hagetaka.

_Uh oh, _thought Shinzui,_ Now, I'm in trouble._

"Is my lecture not interesting enough for you, Miss Ookami?" asked Hagetaka, glaring down her nose at the girl and then at the picture, "This is not art class, it's science." She snatched the page out of her notebook and held it up a bit. "Please enlighten the class about Darwin's Theory of Evolution." Her lips curled slightly into a smirk at the girl's blank face.

_I shall take up your challenge, madam, t_hought Shinzui, suppressing a grin,_ My school already went over this and I know it quite well._ She cleared her throat and stood up, keeping a nonchalant expression. Then she took a deep breath and spoke aloud in a clear voice:

"Darwin theorized that evolution happened by means of natural selection. His intertwined ideas were that there was variation in every population, organisms compete for limited resources, organisms produce more offspring than can survive," Her eyes were fixed on Hagetaka. "Organisms pass genetic traits on to their offspring, and those organisms with the most beneficial traits are more likely to survive and reproduce." She paused to take a breath and clear her throat a bit. "In simple terms, it means that the weak die while the strong live. Survival of the fittest. Isn't that basically what you said?" There was no point where the girl had looked down at her notes, which surprised her classmates.

The whole class was staring at Shinzui as she sat down and smiled innocently up at a stunned and clearly irritated Hagetaka. The teacher reluctantly gave the notebook page back and retreated to the front of the room, making a mental note to herself that the new girl was bound to be a trouble maker. Shinzui chuckled and placed the picture carefully in her bag as the woman regained her composure. Everyone returned to their notes as Hagetaka began to lecture again, but there was a faint flush in her cheeks from anger and embarrassment. Shinzui glanced at Keiko, who flashed a grin at her, and the redhead noticed several pleased looks from the other girls sitting nearby.

_I think I might like this school_, thought Shinzui with a smile. Then she went back to taking notes on the lecture, looking forward to the lunch break.

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Voilá. The first rewritten chapter. Very different, no? I hope I got it to flow better than the original one. Please let me know what you think. =D Thank you!


	2. Nothing Says Action Like Ramen

Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakusho characters and world stuff belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. All original characters and stuff belong to me.

A/N: Chapter 2. Version...4.0? It's at least the final version. I don't plan to rewrite it again. I'll be too busy with the rest of the saga and all the other stuff I work on. Enjoy. =D

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Hagetaka continued to try to give Shinzui a hard time during the rest of the class, but failed to ruffle the girl's feathers. The redhead was thankful when the bell rang for lunch and let out a relieved sigh when the woman left the room. She rummaged through her bag, intending to find her lunch and go outside, but then Keiko appeared and informed the girl of her great luck at being in this particular classroom.

"We have the study hall right after lunch and Miss Fukushin lets us have an extra half hour for lunch. I was wondering if you'd like to go to Yusuke's ramen stand. It's not that far away and I'll make him treat you as an apology for hitting you with the door."

"That sounds good," chuckled Shinzui, standing up "I can't say no to the offer of free food." She slung her messenger bag over her shoulder.

"I'm amazed the school didn't make a fuss over that bag," commented Keiko, heading toward the door.

"I found a loophole," explained Shinzui, walking with the girl, "It's a similar style and made by the same company. The only real difference is that it has an optional shoulder strap. Finding loopholes was a favorite past time at my old school."

The girls left the school, chatting about classes until reached the ramen stand. Yusuke had just said goodbye to some customers when he spotted the two girls and grinned.

"Hey! I guess you're in Keiko's class if you got away with going out for lunch."

"Yep," replied Shinzui, smiling, "besides, Keiko promised that you'd treat me to a bowl to apologize for hitting me with the door."

"Sure, why not," shrugged the boy with a laugh.

As the girls approached the stand, a man ran past Shinzui and grabbed the strap of her messenger bag, pulling it off her shoulder. However, the girl's response was quite different from what people around her expected. She kept a firm grip on the strap with one hand and turned quickly to grab the bag itself with her other hand. In seconds, she jerked the man backwards toward her and slammed her left elbow into his face, following up with a right hook to his jaw. The redhead finished her attack with a knee to the man's gut and he collapsed backward on the ground. Keiko and Yusuke, as well as many onlookers, stared at Shinzui as she stood over the would be thief with a grin.

"Nice try, but you selected a black belt as your target, which is _always_ a bad move. Want to give it another try? I need to practice my throwing."

There was some scattered applause among the spectators as the terrified thief scrambled to his feet and ran away. Shinzui turned back to Yusuke and Keiko with a grin.

"That was fun."

"That was cool!" said Yusuke, "Where'd you learn that?"

"From my teacher, Master Chikara," replied Shinzui, sitting on a stool, "though it was Master Genkai who taught me how to deal with thieves like that." She sighed with an expression of sadness. "I miss her."

"Did you just say Master _Genkai_?" exclaimed Yusuke, staring at her.

Shinzui blinked at him, looking surprised. "Yes, did you know her?"

Yusuke nodded as he replied. "Yes, I was her apprentice."

Shinzui gazed at him for a moment as though putting things together in her head and suddenly an expression of realization came over her face.

"Oh! You're the dimwit she was always talking about!" She laughed a bit. "You were so lucky! I was a student of hers since I was a kid and she rejected my request to be her apprentice because I always hit a block in training." She shrugged a bit. "Her rejection made sense because I couldn't-"

Shinzui's words were interrupted by a loud shout that made the trio, as well as many people around them, jump.

"Urameshi!"

A boy wearing a dark colored uniform was running toward the group. Shinzui watched Yusuke come out from behind the stand and then quickly dodge out of the way as the boy nearly ran him over. His curly, orange hair was slicked back and his small brown eyes were fixed on Yusuke. The boy's mouth curved up into a smile and he clapped Yusuke on the back, both laughing. Shinzui blinked in confusion and stared at the two laughing boys.

"Who's this?" asked the boy, looking at Shinzui, "Some girl you picked up?" His eyes narrowed at Yusuke and he raised an eyebrow. "You're not cheating on Keiko are you?"

"Excuse me?" said Shinzui in an irritated tone. She stood up and marched over to the boy, drawing herself up to her full height, which was still at least a whole head shorter than the boy, "My name is Shinzui Ookami and I'm a friend of Keiko's." She pointed to her right.

The boy seemed startled by something, but followed her finger to see Keiko, standing there with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

_I'm getting the tickle feeling, _he thought, looking back at Shinzui,_ and it's coming from her._

"Kuwabara, you idiot," said Yusuke, glaring at the boy, "I'd never cheat on Keiko. You know that."

"Sorry," said Kuwabara, turning a bit red, "I'm Kazuma Kuwabara and I didn't mean to insult such a lovely lady as yourself."

Shinzui was rather amused by the boy's sudden change in demeanor, but she still eyed him with distrust.

"Have you already forgotten about Yukina?" asked Yusuke, looking at his friend in exasperation.

"No," answered Kuwabara, sighing dramatically, "My love for Yukina burns brighter than any of the stars in the sky!"

_So dramatic, _thought Shinzui with a slight smile and a hand over her mouth as she chuckled,_ Man, I feel right at home with these guys._

"Don't mind them," said Keiko, laughing a bit, "Kuwabara's just crazy about this girl, Yukina, and when she's mentioned, he gets very eccentric about it."

"I like the theatrics," giggled the redhead and she turned to Kuwabara, "so, what school do you go to? I don't recognize your uniform."

"Gai Tech," replied Kuwabara, "it's close to here, so I decided to drop by for lunch." He looked at Shinzui's uniform. "I don't recognize your uniform either. Where do you go?"

"Actually, I just transferred to Daiichi Girls Academy," answered Shinzui, "but the school hasn't sent me my new uniform, so I wore my old one. I used to go to Yokogiru High."

"It's kinda late in the year to transfer isn't it?" inquired Yusuke, returning to the stand, "I mean, it's January. Keiko told me that graduation for Daiichi is near the end of March."

"My dad was insistent," sighed Shinzui, sitting down on a stool, "there were some issues at my last school, so he decided to have me transferred." She looked at Yusuke. "So, how about lunch?"

Kuwabara and Keiko sat down on the stools next to her and the three ordered their ramen bowls. They chatted as Yusuke put together the bowls and then handed them out. As they ate, Shinzui gazed at a nearby cherry blossom tree, which was already developing buds.

"Man, the trees are budding early this year," remarked the redhead, stirring her ramen a bit.

"I'm not surprised," said Keiko, "it's been unusually warm this month. They'll probably bloom by the beginning of March if it stays like this."

"Ryuka would be pleased if she lived here," chuckled Shinzui, "they're her favorite flower."

"Who's Ryuka?" inquired the brunette, looking at Shinzui.

"My best friend," replied Shinzui, turning to look at the girl, "She lives in Hokkaido." She set her chopsticks down and dug in her bag for a bit before pulling out a small photo album. She flipped through the pages for a moment. "Ah, here's a picture of the two of us from the last time she came for a visit."

The three looked at the picture of a short girl with slightly untidy, raven hair that fell a bit past her shoulders, which contrasted with her white bangs. A pair of red-orange eyes stared at them from the picture and a black dragon tattoo was visible on one of her shoulders. Shinzui was standing next to her and the two were posing with a different weapon in their hands. From the state of the punching bags behind them, the two girls had waged an all out war upon the sand filled bags with their weapons.

"She reminds me of Hiei," said Yusuke, staring at the picture, "Only more cheerful, but she seems just as violent."

"Who's Hiei?" asked Shinzui, looking at him as she picked up her chopsticks, "A friend of yours?" She ate some more noodles.

"Uh, yeah, but he doesn't go to school here," replied Yusuke, coming around from behind the stand to get a better look at the album. He looked at a photo on the opposite page. "Who's this old man surrounded by guys in suits?"

"Oh..." answered Shinzui quietly, jabbing at her remaining food, "That's my dad and his group of minions." Her eyes held a mix of contempt and sadness. "He's a big business man at some company with lots of creepy scientists crawling all over it."

Keiko picked up the album and turned the page, still curious. She found a picture of a woman with dark, copper red hair that fell to her hips in soft waves. She had a warm smile and gazed up from the photo with gentle, turquoise blue eyes. Her face greatly resembled Shinzui's. All three stared at the picture and then glanced at the redhead, who was finishing up her bowl of ramen.

"Is this your mother?" inquired Keiko with a gasp, "She's beautiful!"

Shinzui's body went stiff as she choked on the noodles a bit and coughed. She didn't look at them when she was able to reply:

"Y...yes." Her voice was rather shaky. "That is...well... _Was_ my mother."

Shinzui glanced at the group with sad eyes that seemed over bright.

"Was your mother?" repeated Yusuke, eyeing the girl with curiosity, "What happened to her?" He winced when he felt Keiko's elbow dig into his side.

The redhead's expression hardened and she grabbed the album from their hands, shoving it into her bag. Shinzui replied without making eye contact. "She died."

"Oh... Uh..." said the boy, unsure of what to say.

"I'm done with my lunch," said Shinzui, cutting him off, "thank you for the ramen. It was very good. I'm going to head back to school." She stood up and left the group behind.

"You're an idiot," scolded Keiko in annoyance, "it was pretty obvious that she didn't want to talk about it." She shook her head and ran after Shinzui to talk to her.

"Urameshi, did you get any weird feelings from Keiko's new friend?" asked Kuwabara, watching the girls disappear down the street, "because I just got the tickle feeling again."

Yusuke went back behind the stand and shrugged. "I get more weird feelings from that flower of hers than the girl herself." He scratched his head. "Her aura does feel kind of unusual, but with the barrier down I've been sensing a lot of strange auras lately. She's obviously no threat. Otherwise Botan would've shown up by now. She might just have abilities like you." He sighed. "I feel bad about asking about her mom though. Keiko's right. I should've seen that it was a sore subject. I wonder if I'll be able to apologize."

"Who knows," shrugged Kuwabara, "I'll see you after school." He paid Yusuke for his bowl and left.

Yusuke got the chance to apologize sooner than he thought because once classes got out, Keiko showed up with Shinzui again. The redhead looked a bit uncomfortable, but made eye contact with Yusuke, which was a good sign.

"Sorry about my behavior," sighed the girl, "I just don't like talking about my mom."

"I should be apologizing," said Yusuke, shaking his head, "I wasn't paying much attention when I asked."

The two looked at each other and then just laughed. A weird tension lifted away and they were able to chat more freely. It was Keiko that brought up something that the two were able to find common ground on.

"You've already attracted a lot of attention with your humiliation of Hagetaka."

"What'd she do?" asked Yusuke.

"She recited Darwin's Theory of Evolution flawlessly," replied Keiko, grinning, "She didn't even look down at her notes or at the board. Hagetaka was so embarrassed!"

"I certainly enjoyed it," laughed Shinzui, "she seems like one of those annoying teachers that needs to get knocked down a peg every now and then."

"She doesn't like anyone who doesn't get good grades or give her the attention and respect she thinks she deserves," commented Keiko, "she probably didn't like your hair much either."

"The only attention she deserves is pranks," declared Shinzui, a mischievous smile playing across her face.

"Oh no," sighed Keiko, shaking her head, "Not another one."

Yusuke chuckled and rubbed his hands together. "Now, you're talking. I used play a lot of pranks on teachers when I was in middle school. Got any planned yet?"

"I have some," replied the girl, tapping her chin a bit as she looked thoughtful, "but none of them are fully formed. I think I'll wait a couple weeks before I start playing the trickster."

"I take it you have experience in that field?" asked Yusuke, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course," answered Shinzui, grinning, "It seems to be in my nature to play tricks on people I don't like."

"Kuwabara and I used to do that, too," remarked Yusuke.

"I'll make sure to consult with you guys on ideas," chuckled the redhead.

Yusuke suddenly thought of an earlier conversation.

"Hey, when you took out that thief you talked about Master Genkai and a Master Chikara. Is Chikara another martial arts teacher?"

"Yeah," replied Shinzui, nodding, "I've known them for a long time."

"You do martial arts?" asked a familiar voice.

The three looked over and saw that Kuwabara had arrived. Shinzui nodded again to confirm the truth of his question.

"You should've seen her take out a purse snatcher," said Yusuke, launching into a description of what the girl had done.

After the story, the two boys began asking her a lot of questions.

"The Chikaras are family friends," stated Shinzui, trying to answer all the questions in one go, "so I've been learning from Master Chikara ever since I could walk. My dad may be a jerk, but he firmly believes that I should know how to defend myself." She put a hand to her chin as she searched for more answers. "He's sort of a master of his own art. I believe it was his great great grandfather who blended a few disciplines into a new one. I've also learned to work with weapons from him, but he hasn't let me try a real sword yet." She pouted a bit, letting out an annoyed sigh. "I'm still on the wooden practice ones."

"What weapons have you used?" asked Yusuke, quite curious.

"Other than a sword," replied Shinzui, "I've learned how to handle bows, staves, and objects for throwing like small knives and shurikens. Recently, Master Chikara has had me working with spears."

"Wow," said Kuwabara, amazed, "That's a lot.

"I didn't have much else to do when I was growing up," stated the girl, shrugging, "and I was often left at the Chikaras, so they taught me a lot." Her eyes slid away from the group and focused on a group of suited men walking toward the stand. "I also get a lot of practice outside the dojo." She saw that the group had spotted her. "Ah, there may be some unpleasantness soon."

"What do you mean?" inquired Keiko, frowning.

"Them," murmured Shinzui in reply as she removed her bag, "could you watch my bag?" She held it up to Keiko.

"Uh...sure," said the brunette, taking it.

"Thank you," said Shinzui, smiling, "this shouldn't take long." She walked a couple feet away from the stand and stood, waiting for the group to arrive. She noticed Toraeru was leading them. "I guess my warning wasn't enough this morning, but I see my dad sent out his most loyal lapdog."

"You know how your father worries, Shinzui," stated Toraeru, smiling in a calm manner.

"Ah, yes, he sent you out of concern for my _safety_," said the girl, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "this has nothing to do with the fact that he's a control freak." Her face became very serious. "I meant my threat. I will put more of your boys in the hospital if you don't back off. I'm a big girl. I can get home on my own."

Shinzui watched Toraeru's eyes slide over to the trio at the ramen stand before he looked back at her as his smile turned into a smirk.

"Don't you dare," growled Shinzui, narrowing her eyes at him.

"What?" inquired the man with a playful tone.

"I know exactly what you're thinking," replied Shinzui in a low tone, "do not get them involved."

"Then are you going to come quietly?" asked Toraeru.

Shinzui leaned forward slightly, keeping eye contact, and responded.

"No."

The girl turned and began to walk away when Toraeru grabbed her upper arm in a tight grip and pulled her back. Much to his surprise, the expression on Shinzui's face was amusement.

"I was waiting for you to do that."

Shinzui punched the man hard in the face with her free hand and he staggered back, letting go of her arm. She quickly followed her attack with a hard kick to Toraeru's chest, knocking him on to the ground. The four other men started to look nervous when their leader fell and Shinzui amused herself by walking around Toraeru, making the other men move back when she got close to them.

"I see your men are not immune to rumors," she chuckled, eyeing their nervous faces, "now, Toraeru. You know I _never_ go along quietly." Her pacing only stopped after she had made a complete circle around the fallen man.

"Oi, Shinzui," said Yusuke, "you know these guys?"

The redhead glanced back at him and nodded.

"Yes, they work for my dad. These are some of the suited monkeys he likes to send out when he gets paranoid. Toraeru," she gestured to the man who was getting up. "is the head monkey. He's the only veteran minion I haven't hospitalized."

"Be careful, Shinzui," coughed Toraeru, rubbing his chest, "you might scare your new friends."

"I kind of doubt it," said Shinzui with a faintly smug look, "the boys are martial arts enthusiasts. My violence probably doesn't phase them."

"And the girl?" inquired Toraeru, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not afraid," said Keiko, shrugging, "why should I be?"

"You've certainly found some interesting friends," remarked Toraeru, looking at the trio.

"Yeah, I like 'em," chuckled Shinzui, "now, unless you want to have more of your boys put in the hospital, I suggest you leave and tell my dad that I'll come home when I'm good and ready to."

"Your father won't be pleased," said Toraeru in a warning tone, the smile gone from his face.

"I'll deal with that when I get home," said Shinzui, shrugging a bit, "Besides, that's not any different from how he usually is."

"You father is concerned about the repercussions of your transfer," stated Toraeru, all amusement gone from his eyes, "your _friends_ at your old school have become aware of your absence."

Yusuke noticed Shinzui's entire body go tense and a completely different emotion flashed through her eyes before they settled back on the glare.

_Was that...Fear? t_hought the boy, frowning, _What is she afraid of?_

The two continued to have a stare down until Toraeru spoke again, his tone completely serious.

"Would you prefer that he find you with your new friends? You know he'll track you down eventually."

Shinzui stood defiant for a few moments longer and then sighed, rolling her eyes. "Tch. Fine. I'll go home." She walked over to Keiko to get her bag.

"Are you okay?" asked the girl in concern, handing Shinzui the bag.

"A few complications," replied Shinzui stiffly, taking her bag, but then she smiled, "Don't worry about it."

The group could see that the sudden lighthearted manner was not reflected in Shinzui's eyes. Instead there was stress and even some faint traces of fear, but she didn't give any of them the chance to ask more questions because she said goodbye and walked away. Toraeru and the other men waited for her to pass and then followed the girl down the street in the direction that would take them home.

# # # # # # # # # # #

First major change. NO KURAMA! Augh. I practically kicked myself for coming up with that weird project thing for him. It was just so badly done. They will meet soon though, but it's a bit more fun. Also, new conversations with the boys. I really want Shinzui to be friends with them. She needs friends. Oh yes, one last thing. If you caught my joke with Hagetaka, then you are made of awesome. =D It's in the first paragraph and I'd classify it as a pun of sorts.

Oh yeah, I believe this is the last of what I call the "short" chapters. The rest are between 15 and 23 pages. Though that range may grow as I get closer to the final showdown. I only split long chapters if there's a good spot to do it, but I do try to stay below 25 pages. If I start to exceed that number, then I look for a way to split it.


	3. New Friends, Old Enemies

Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakusho characters and world stuff belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. All original characters and stuff belong to me.

A/N: As I said before, my chapters will vary in length a lot. That's just how I roll... er... Write. This one just had a lot that I felt that I needed cover and there isn't a good place for the chapter to split. This chapter was completely rewritten from scratch. Only the basic ideas of the original chapter still exist. XD So, yeah...This is a long chapter. Almost twice the length of the last one.

Enjoy! =D

# # # # # # # # # # #

Shinzui found it easy to adjust to her new school, finding a niche in the drama club, which she had been pleased to discover. That happiness increased once she got her new uniform because it didn't have any large bows to deal with. She enjoyed hanging out with Keiko during classes and the pair made a regular trip to meet Kuwabara at Yusuke's ramen stand each day. When Saturday arrived, Shinzui realized that she was excited about the next school day even though she wasn't quite caught up in all the classes. To dispel the restless feeling, the girl decided to go for a walk in the park near her house.

The winter day was on the warm side, so Shinzui wore cargo pants with a long-sleeved, camp shirt, left open to show the T-shirt underneath, and slung a messenger bag over her shoulder. After leaving the house, the girl stretched her arms and breathed in the fresh air, letting it out with a happy sigh. She wandered down a quiet path, humming a pleasant melody to herself, and paused when she heard a strange sound. It was a meow. Shinzui glanced around for the source of this noise, but couldn't locate it. She finally looked up and saw a small cat sitting high in the tree above her. It looked quite distressed.

"Aw, poor thing," she murmured, "you want to get down, don't you." She smiled and bowed to the cat. "I'll be happy to oblige, ma'am...Or sir."

The girl located the best side of the tree to climb on, dropped her bag at the base, and started up the trunk. Eventually, Shinzui reached the branch with the cat and pulled herself up to sit on it. She was now able to get a better look it. Most of the fur was light brown with some white and a few spots of dark brown. The nervous cat backed away a bit, hissing and arching its spine.

"Shhh, it's okay," cooed the redhead in a soothing voice, "I'm here to help you."

Shinzui shifted a bit so she was lying stomach down on the branch and extended one of her hands. With her head set on her other arm, she was now at the cat's level and hoped this made her appear less threatening. She hummed a calming melody and smiled at the animal without showing her teeth. The cat cautiously sniffed at her hand and gave her an analytical look. Deciding she wasn't a danger, its body relaxed and the feline crept over to rub against the girl's face, causing her to giggle.

"Aw, you're a sweetie, aren't you." She slowly sat up with her legs wrapped around the branch to keep herself steady.

Shinzui carefully picked up the cat and cradled it in her arms. The cat meowed happily and nuzzled its face against the girl's chin. She set it down in her lap and took off her outer shirt to make use of the cloth. The girl scooped up the cat in the shirt, tying the clothing around her body in a secure sling with the cat in the front. After checking to make sure the sling wouldn't slip when she moved around, Shinzui began her descent from the tree. Since she was focused on getting down, the girl didn't notice a person walking under the tree.

"We're almost there," said Shinzui in a reassuring tone as she landed on a branch about ten feet off the ground, "soon you'll be back on solid ground, little one." She reached into the sling and stroked the cat's fur.

However, the girl's attention was taken by a loud noise. She blinked and looked to where the branch met the trunk. The branch had not been as solid as she thought it was and a large crack had formed along the width of the limb.

"Oh crap," muttered Shinzui, her eye twitching.

Before the girl could move to another branch, the limb she was on suddenly sagged and try as she might to keep her balance, Shinzui's foot slipped, causing her to fall backwards out of the tree. She shrieked and closed her eyes as she dropped. The girl quickly curled her body a bit and put her arms around the sling to protect the cat from getting hurt, but instead of hitting the ground, Shinzui fell on something quite different. She opened her eyes to find that she was fine and there was someone partially underneath her with their arms around her.

"Are you all right?" asked a gentle voice as the arms loosened.

Released from the grip, Shinzui was able to shift and found herself face to face with a green eyed, young man. He smiled and moved, helping the girl sit up before standing up and holding out a hand to her while using the other to brush his long, red hair out of his face. The girl took his hand and, with some assistance, got to her feet, finding that he stood half a head taller than her.

"I'm fine," replied Shinzui, rather embarrassed, "thank you for your help."

"What were you doing in that tree?" inquired the boy.

Before the girl could reply, the cat wriggled its head out of the sling and meowed. The boy chuckled as Shinzui shrugged with a grin.

"I think it's self-explanatory now," she replied with a quiet laugh, "he was stuck in the tree, so I decided to help him, but I guess the tree had other ideas on how we got down."

Shinzui shot a mock glare at the tree, which was completely unaffected by the look.

"At least you're both all right," said the boy with another chuckle.

The girl looked at him and frowned. "Yeah, we are, but what about you?" She looked him up and down. "You broke our fall. Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," replied the boy, smiling, "It wasn't a hard fall."

"I'm Shinzui Ookami," said Shinzui, putting out her hand with a smile, "What's your name?"

"Shuuichi Minamino," replied the boy, taking her hand. As he smiled at the girl, Shuuichi noticed the flower in her hair. _Interesting, _he thought,_ I've never seen a rose like that. I thought there were no genetics for blue._

"So, Shuuichi Minamino," said Shinzui, repeating the name as she pulled the cat out of the sling, "You wouldn't happen to recognize this little feline, would you?"

"Actually," replied Shuuichi, taking a closer look at the cat, "I do. This is Kuwabara's cat, Eikichi. He's been looking for him all day."

"Oh!" exclaimed Shinzui with a grin, "You're a friend of Kuwabara's? Do you know Yusuke, too?"

"Ah, yes," answered Shuuichi, a bit surprised that the girl knew them, "I know both of them. They should be around here somewhere."

"Let's go find them," suggested Shinzui, "no doubt Kuwabara misses his cat. I bet Eikichi misses him, too." She stroked the cat's fur. "Where did you last see them?"

Shuuichi looked around and spotted the path the other boys had taken. "They went down a path over there." He pointed to it. "They shouldn't be too far away."

The two walked along the path, calling out the boys names in hopes that would attract their attention. About halfway along the path, they were startled by a yell to their left.

"Kurama!"

Shinzui and Shuuichi looked over to see Yusuke and Kuwabara running over, but when they saw the girl with a look of confusion on her face, the two boys stopped.

"Who's Kurama?" inquired Shinzui, looking around and not seeing anyone except Shuuichi.

"Sorry, we thought you were someone else," laughed Yusuke nervously.

"But isn't-" started Kuwabara, but he was silenced by an elbow to the gut from Yusuke.

_I introduced myself with my human name, _said the redhead sternly to the other two boys through telepathy,_ Considering she's a human, I'd rather she _not_ learn of my demon name._

"We forgot that _Shuuichi_ came with us to help," stated Yusuke, "not Kurama. The two kind of look alike."

Shinzui raised an eyebrow, but shrugged, ignoring the strange behavior. She missed the relieved expression on the face of the boy next to her.

"By the way," chuckled the girl, holding up the cat, "Is this yours?"

"Eikichi!" exclaimed Kuwabara, rushing forward to scoop up the cat in a surprisingly gentle hug, "I thought I wouldn't see you again."

The cat meowed and rubbed against the boy's face as it purred.

"I found him in a tree," stated Shinzui, smiling at the display of affection between pet and owner, "So I got him down."

"How'd you meet Shuuichi?" asked Yusuke, glancing at the taller redhead.

"One of the branches decided it didn't like me and broke," replied Shinzui, shaking her head with a sigh, "I fell and Shuuichi caught me... Well, it's more like he broke my fall."

"You _fell_ on him?" said Yusuke, trying to suppress a laugh.

Kuwabara on the other hand couldn't keep his own laughter in.

"Shut up," said Shinzui, putting her hands on her hips, "It's because of him that the cat and I are safe." She suddenly realized that her hips were bare and her shoulder felt lighter than usual. "Crap. I forgot my bag." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'll be right back. I need to go get it before someone else gets their hands on it and I have to go through the trouble of hunting them down to kill 'em."

The boys stared at her in surprise.

"I mean get my bag back of course," said Shinzui, putting her hands behind her back, "I'd _never_ hurt another human being." She looked away, trying to appear as innocent as possible.

"Right," snickered Yusuke, "so does that mean that would be thief and that Toraeru guy don't count as human?"

"Now that thief tried to steal from me, so he had it coming," stated the girl with a shrug, "and Toraeru..." She paused a moment, pretending to think. "Well, I guess he's human, but he also falls under the classification of my father's minion, so he's exempt from the no hurting policy."

"Would you like some company?" asked Kurama, rather amused by her justifications.

"No, I'll be fine," laughed Shinzui, waving her hand dismissively, "It'll just take a few minutes."

The redhead ran down the path to where the tree was, leaving the boys behind.

"I guess the tree was farther away than I thought," muttered Shinzui, rolling her eyes, annoyed with herself for being so forgetful. Then she saw that he bag was sitting under the tree exactly where she had left it. "Excellent."

Shinzui picked up her bag and moved to head back to the boys, but found a tall boy blocking her path. His short, dirty blonde hair was slicked back in a side part and his dark blue eyes were fixed on her as he smirked. The girl's eyes narrowed and she backed away from him, turning to head the other way, but found another boy blocking her path. This one had short, dark auburn hair in a spiky style and unfriendly green eyes.

The girl knew these boys and ticked off their names in her head, _Okay there's Kageru. _She glanced at the blond boy._ And Yosamu._

She decided to head toward the tree, but another pair of boys emerged from the trees behind it, cutting off the paths around the big tree. They were twins, both of whom had brown hair and brown eyes, but each was styled differently. The twin on the left had long hair pulled back in a ponytail and the one on the right had scruffy, short hair. Both were leering at Shinzui with unsettling smiles.

The girl's eyes flicked to the left twin, _Reigen_, she thought before moving her eyes to the other twin as she backed away from them, _and Akui_.

_Shit. Shit. Shit, _thought Shinzui, glancing around at all the boys,_ If _they're_ here. Then... _She wildly looked around, expecting to see another person, but no one else appeared.

"The boss hasn't arrived yet," said Yosamu with a smirk, "but he said to make sure you didn't run off before he did."

The boys started to move toward to her, but the first one that got close to her, Kageru, found a bag being swung at his head. He ducked under the bag, but couldn't avoid the follow up kick to his chest. As the boy staggered back, Shinzui kept going, turning to smack Akui in the face with her bag before dodging under Yosamu's arms to drive her elbow into the blonde's abdomen. As she stood up, Reigen grabbed Shinzui from behind and pinned her arms to her sides. She growled as she slammed her heel into the boy's shin and hauled him over her shoulder to the ground when his arms loosened. Shinzui straightened up to find a foot coming at her and it hit her hard in the torso, knocking her backwards toward the tree. She landed on the ground with a hand to her stomach and looked up.

"Oh shit..." she breathed as her face went white, "Tenma..."

Towering over the girl, gazing at her with amusement in his reddish brown eyes was another boy, who was much taller than the ones she had been fighting. He had medium length, black hair that was roughly cut and his mouth was curved into a smirk that made chills run up Shinzui's spine. She got to her feet as the boys closed in around her, leaving Tenma as her only front obstacle. However, Shinzui wasn't feeling very rebellious at this point, so she didn't try to run.

"Giving the boys a bit of trouble, aye, Shinzui?" asked Tenma with a chuckle.

Shinzui found the boy's laughter to be unnerving, but said nothing. All she did was take a step back, eyes wildly searching for an escape route that didn't take her so close to Tenma.

"I've missed you," said the boy, walking closer, "I was so sad when you stopped showing up to school. I had to beat information out of so many high school gangs before I finally found out where you were."

Every time Tenma stepped toward her, Shinzui stepped back and eventually, he had backed her up against the tree.

"Why are you so scared?" asked the boy with an almost crooked smile, "You should be happy to see me again."

Shinzui flinched when Tenma reached out to stroke her cheek before using the same hand to raise her face, forcing her to look at him.

"Though I do enjoy seeing you terrified, Shinzui," chucked Tenma, grinning, "It makes you look vulnerable and cute. Like a small animal."

"Shinzui?" said a feminine voice in a questioning tone.

The redhead glanced over and saw Keiko standing outside the circle, looking shocked. However, what horrified Shinzui even more was the fact that there was a shorter girl standing next to the brunette, gazing at the scene with unsure red eyes. Her sea green hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a hair band decorated by a red flower.

"K... Keiko," stammered the girl, eyes darting to all the boys, "What are you doing here?"

"Y...Yukina and I were looking for Eikichi," answered the brunette, glancing nervously at Tenma's gang.

"Dammit, Keiko," hissed Shinzui, locking eyes with her friend, "Run!"

Unfortunately, the warning came too late because Yosamu and Akui had already moved forward, the former grabbing Keiko's arms while the latter went for Yukina. The brunette shrieked and started struggling to get free, but Yukina stiffened and a chill rippled through the air. Akui seemed startled by something, but Shinzui's yell distracted him.

"Keiko!" exclaimed the redhead, who was too panicked to realize that the air was growing colder, "Let go of them, you bastards!"

Shinzui started forward, but Tenma grabbed her by the shirt and slammed her against the tree.

"Now, now," he said in an oily tone, "let the boys have some _fun_. It's been a while since they had any."

This comment made something inside Shinzui snap. She snarled and slammed her foot into Tenma's crotch, causing the boy to let go of her as he keeled over. The redhead ran over and punched Yosamu hard in the jaw, making him release his hold on Keiko. She then turned on Akui and elbowed him in the face, following the attack with a knee to his gut once he had staggered away from Yukina. The boy fell backwards, holding his face, nose broken and bleeding profusely from the attack. At the moment of intervention, the air returned to its normal temperature. Yosamu staggered to his feet as the other two boys joined him, but Shinzui put herself between them and the girls. However, she started to lose her nerve when Tenma appeared, towering over the females, and he did not look happy.

"Hey, Nejiru!" shouted a familiar voice, "Back off!"

The voice belonged to Yusuke, who had just arrived with Kurama and Kuwabara, responding to the sound of Keiko's shriek.

_Shit! Shit! Shit! _thought Shinzui as her eyes flicked to her new friends,_ I don't want them involved! Tenma could really hurt them!_

"Are these friends of yours, Shinzui?" inquired Tenma, raising an eyebrow at the trio before turning his gaze to the girl.

Shinzui did not like the look in his eyes. _He's obviously itching for a fight,_ she mused, narrowing her eyes as she spoke aloud. "No. They must be friends of these girls."

"What are you talking about, Shinzui?" asked Kuwabara, rather shocked by her denial.

"They know your name," commented Tenma dryly, locking eyes with the girl, "And you know the name of that girl behind you, too."

Shinzui didn't miss a beat. "They're just my classmates." It was taking all her willpower to keep her voice steady. "Of course we know each other's names."

The redhead slowly started to guide Keiko and Yukina around the group of boys, trying to position themselves so at least the two behind her could run to safety.

"Classmates?" repeated Tenma with a cold smile, "They seem rather friendly for mere classmates."

Shinzui shrugged, still moving with the two girls as she replied. "The people at my new school are a friendly sort. Seems to be in their nature. I like it."

Yusuke and Kuwabara were about to speak up when Kurama stopped them.

"Watch her movements," he said quietly, "she's trying to get Keiko and Yukina out of harm's way. Wait for when we can retrieve them safely."

The two boys relaxed and nodded.

"What are you up to, Shinzui?" asked Tenma, raising an eyebrow, "You're usually not this talkative or active when I'm around."

"Up to?" repeated the redhead, feeling a bit nervous, "Nothing." She shrugged. "I just needed to move my legs a bit and-Run, you two!"

Shinzui whirled the brunette around and shoved her forward before doing the same to Yukina. Keiko stumbled a bit as she ran to the trio of boys on the hill with the shorter girl right behind her. Reigen moved to intercept the two girls, but Shinzui tackled him to the ground and rolled away when he shoved her off. She got to her feet, looking back to make sure the girls had gotten to safety and the brunette shouted a warning to her.

"Look out!"

Keiko's words came too late as a foot collided with the redhead's side, sending her to the ground. Shinzui looked up in time to see Yusuke bring down Reigen to stop him from kicking her again. The two started to fight as Kageru and Yosamu joined in, but Akui hung back because he was still reeling from his broken nose. Kuwabara whooped and ran forward, punching Yosamu hard in the face. Shinzui could only watch in horror as the group of five boys brawled, yet Yusuke and Kuwabara seemed to be fairing just fine, so her worries started to dissipate. Quite suddenly, a large hand grabbed her upper arm in a tight grip and roughly hauled the girl to her feet.

"Looks like they _are_ your friends, Shinzui," came Tenma's voice.

The redhead paled when she saw the excited expression on the boy's face.

"P...Please," stuttered Shinzui, her body beginning to tremble again, "Don't hurt them."

"Oh, they won't get hurt very much," chuckled Tenma, watching the fight for a moment, "Ah, I see it now. Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara. No wonder they're matching the boys so well." His eyes flicked over to Keiko, Yukina, and Kurama. "Hmm. Seems like he isn't interested in fighting. How boring."

Shinzui noticed that Tenma's eyes had narrowed as they stayed focused on Kurama. This worried her, especially when she heard the boy's last comment.

"I do like your new female friends though," said the boy with a smirk, "the brunette's cute and the other girl has a sort of exotic look. The boys seemed to like them."

"Leave them out of this," said Shinzui, trying to keep her voice firm, but failed.

"But Akui needs some company while he's recovering," commented Tenma, "it seems fitting that he _play_ with that little exotic one since she's the reason you broke his nose."

This comment seemed to hit a nerve with Shinzui and her voice became tense. "You can abuse _me_ all you want, Tenma, but leave them alone." She spoke these words through her teeth and there was a hint of a growl in her tone.

"Did I hear you right?" asked Tenma in a calm voice, "Did you just tell me what to do?"

Shinzui was completely terrified, but Tenma's suggestions about Yukina caused her temper to override her fear, which led her to do something really stupid. "Yes, Tenma. I _am_ telling you what to do. Did you suddenly go deaf or are you too much of an _idiot_ to understand what I said?"

_Oh shit, _she thought, realizing what she had just said, I'm_ the idiot. He's going to kill me for that._

The boy's only response to her comment was to let go of her arm and back hand her hard in the face. The force of the blow made Shinzui's head snap to one side and she ended up on the ground again. Yusuke and Kuwabara saw this and tried to get over to help the girl, but the three boys kept them back. After seeing Shinzui's high ability with martial arts, the two were surprised to see her reaction to Tenma's fury. The girl completely cowered in front of him as he stood over her.

"I'm sorry!" she said, holding a hand up in defense, "I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me! I didn't mean to say that!"

The girl curled up on the ground with her arms wrapped over her head to protect herself from the violence she thought was coming. However, all Tenma did was kneel down in front of her, grab her arms, and pull her into a sitting position. He put a hand under her chin, causing Shinzui to flinch again, and made her look at him. His actions appeared gentle, but there was a glimmer in his eyes and a smirk on his face that made her blood run cold.

"Ah, poor girl," said Tenma quietly, "I see you've gained some confidence in your time away from us. That will have to be remedied."

At these words, Shinzui knew what was coming and when she spoke, her voice came out in a whimper. "Please. Don't."

"Oh, I won't do it in front your friends," chuckled Tenma, "no one should see such violence be brought upon a female, so let's go somewhere a little more private."

The boy glanced up and saw Yosamu lay unconscious outside the brawl, but the other two were still fighting hard against Yusuke and Kuwabara. He also noticed that Keiko and Yukina had disappeared while Kurama seemed ready to join the fray. Tenma narrowed his eyes and looked over at Akui, who was recovered enough to fight again. The leader gave a nod and the boy quickly got up and rushed at Kurama. The redhead was not expecting the sudden attack and was forced to defend himself. Taking his chance, the tall boy grabbed Shinzui by the arms and started to drag her away from the group, but the girl didn't make it easy, digging her heels into the ground and fighting against him. Frustrated by her struggling, he hauled her up and shifted one of his hands to grab the back of her head. Then he swung her over at a nearby wall, slamming the side of her face into the brick. Yusuke looked over just in time to see this and watch Shinzui drop to the ground.

"Shit!" he exclaimed, punching Reigen in the face, "You could've killed her with that, Nejiru!"

Tenma turned to him with a smirk and shrugged. "This girl is made of stronger stuff than you think, Urameshi. Look."

Yusuke looked down at the redhead and saw her roll over, groaning. There was a nasty gash on the right side of her forehead with a large bruise starting to appear around it. Shinzui was extremely dazed and kept her right eye shut because blood had oozed down the side of her face from the injury, but it didn't make much difference since she couldn't see straight and the dizziness was making her feel sick. Tenma reached down to pick her up when a something lashed around his wrist, jerking him away from Shinzui. The boy looked down at his arm and saw a thorny, green whip, which looked more like a plant than the traditional leather, wrapped around it. Then his eyes traveled to the source of the weapon and he saw Kurama standing there with the whip held taut in his hands.

"Interesting weapon," commented Tenma with a smirk. He took note of Akui's unconscious form. "You were even able to pull me away from Shinzui. You're stronger than you look."

"Or perhaps you're just _weaker_ than you think," replied Kurama, his voice tense as he glared at the boy.

Shinzui heard this comment and it set off warning bells in her head. _Oh god. That's even worse than what I said._

Tenma's eyes darkened and he put his hands on the whip, ignoring the pain of the thorns cutting into his hands as he tore it in half. He unwound the remaining piece off whip of his arm and tossed it to the ground as he turned to face the redhead. Kurama could feel the rage radiating off of his opponent, but what really startled him was the fact that a human was able to break his rose whip so easily. Tenma started forward, but he was stopped when Shinzui wrapped her arms around his leg and hung on tight.

"Please don't hurt him, Tenma," pleaded the girl.

Tenma shook his leg and Shinzui, still lightheaded, let go rather quickly. She received a hard kick in the stomach that sent her rolling back near the wall and she didn't get up. He started toward her, but Kurama intervened again and this time he put himself between the girl and Tenma, the remainder of the long whip raised and ready to attack. Each time the taller boy tried to get past him, the rose whip was flicked at him, forcing him to move back. After a few minutes, Shinzui let out a groan and shifted a bit, causing Kurama to look at her and Tenma took his chance.

"Kurama!" shouted Kuwabara, forgetting to use his human name, "In front of you!"

Kurama turned and a fist caught him in the side of the head. As the boy stumbled back, Tenma followed up with a kick to his chest that sent him flying. Shinzui heard this fight, but didn't know what had happened until she rolled over and saw the boy land on the ground a few feet away. He got up with a hand to his chest, amazed that a kick from a human was causing him so much pain. He glanced at Shinzui, who's expression was one of horror, but then her gaze moved and she seemed to focus on something behind him. He didn't get the chance to look behind him nor did he see the smile that crept on to the girl's face because his attention was fully taken by the sight of Tenma stalking toward him. The thug had picked up the rose whip that Kurama had dropped after getting hit. However, no one missed Shinzui's sudden shout.

"Verteidig!"

A large animal leapt over Kurama and landed in front of him, snarling at Tenma, who took a step back in surprise. At first, when it turned, Kurama thought it was a wolf, but then he realized that it wasn't as large and there were some odd qualities to the physique. The fur was mostly dark gray with some silver and black scattered across it. The solid white tip of its tail, which was a bit longer and fuller than a wolf's usually was, stood out as did the distinctive, black tips of its ears. A pair of angry, yellow eyes were fixed right on Tenma and the canine bared its fangs as the boy tried to approach.

_This dog's qualities don't seem like any mix I've ever seen, _thought Kurama, gazing at the animal,_ It almost seems... Not fully canine._

"You think your stupid mutt will stop me?" laughed Tenma, looking back at the girl

All Shinzui did was smirk and yell: "Angriff!"

With that single word, the dog bunched itself together and leapt on to the delinquent, taking him down in a flurry of fur, teeth, and nails. It let go after a few minutes and returned to its spot in front of Kurama, looking smug. Tenma got up, covered in a few bite marks and several scratches from the dog's surprisingly sharp nails.

"Kouken isn't stupid," stated Shinzui, looking equally smug, "He brought help."

"Help?" repeated Tenma, frowning, "Who could possibly be any help to you?"

"Me," said a feminine voice.

The boy turned and a staff collided with his head, sending him staggering to one side. He glared at the offender, but then suddenly looked fearful and backed away.

"You!" he hissed.

Before him stood a woman with long hair that seemed to be more dark purple than black. It was tied back in a French braid that fell just past her armpits and her violet eyes were fixed fiercely on the boy in front of her. She wore a white, karate uniform with a black belt knotted around her waist. In her hands was the staff she had hit Tenma with and she looked ready to smack him again.

"I thought something was strange when Kouken went crazy," said the woman in her rich, alto voice, "good thing I came with him." Her eyes narrowed at Tenma. "I suggest you take your gang and leave before I call the other three here."

For the first time, something seemed to scare Tenma, but it was obvious that this threat also made him angry. He kept clenching and relaxing his hands, which had started to bleed again. With a single gesture, his gang reassembled. Kageru and Reigen, both badly beaten up, were supporting Yosamu and Tenma hefted Akui over his shoulder like a sack of flour. With grumbles they started to leave, but Tenma turned back and shot a glare at Shinzui, who had managed to sit up against the wall by now.

"These people won't be around forever, _Akage_," he growled, "one day, you'll be back where you belong."

Shinzui flinched at the use of the nickname. _Oh boy, _she thought,_ I'm really screwed now. I wonder how the high schools are in Germany._ She then spoke aloud, trying to maintain a defiant glare at Tenma. "I'm not part of your gang anymore." She couldn't keep up the eye contact and quickly broke it off, scared of the gaze she was receiving.

Tenma's lips curved into a cruel smirk as he spoke in a fierce voice. "You'll never part from this gang, Shinzui. Not with that mark on your body."

Shinzui's hand instinctively flew up to where her left shoulder met her neck, fingers splayed across her back as if she wanted to cover something.

"Exactly," chuckled Tenma, his smirk getting bigger.

Tenma turned and disappeared down the path with his gang. A couple minutes later, Keiko and Yukina emerged from the trees on the other side of the path and the brunette hurried forward to check on Shinzui.

"I'm fine," muttered the girl, waving her away, "Don't fuss."

Kouken walked over and laid down next to Shinzui with his head in her lap.

"You are _not_ fine," said the tall woman, walking over to her, "No doubt you have a concussion from this." She gently touched the injury on Shinzui's forehead.

"Ow!" cried the girl, flinching away, "no need to touch!"

The woman let out a quiet chuckle and shook her head. "I used to be a nurse, remember? I know what I'm doing. Now sit still and let me look at it."

"Yes, Yume," sighed Shinzui, leaning back against the wall.

"By the way," said Yume as she examined the head injury, "who are your friends?"

"Oh my god!" exclaimed the redhead, sitting up straight and looking wildly around, "How is everyone? Yume, you should look after them! Not me!" This only caused a wave of dizziness to wash over her and she had to lean back against the wall again.

"Calm down," said Yusuke, appearing to her right, "We're fine."

The boy was sporting a black eye and several bruises and scratches all over his bare skin. Shinzui was sure, from the way he walked, that there were several bruises on his torso underneath his shirt. Kuwabara also had a black eye as well as a huge bruise on one of his cheeks. Like Yusuke, his body held many scratches and bruises, but his side seemed to be hurting him the most.

"That blonde one caught me by surprise," explained the orange haired boy, "gave me a good kick in the ribs."

"A _good_ kick?" repeated Shinzui, raising her eyebrow, "How is that _good_?"

"I respect a man who can deal a kick like that," said Kuwabara, shrugging.

Shinzui was speechless, but then her attention turned to Kurama when he appeared to her left. He had a large bruise rising on the side of his face and he walked a bit stiffly. What the girl couldn't see was the massive contusion on his chest where Tenma had kicked him. Kurama thought that a couple of his ribs might even be bruised from the attack.

"God..." murmured Shinzui, looking at his face, "I only just met you today and you've already gotten hurt because of me." She hung her head, feeling shame and guilt. "All of you got hurt."

"I'm fine!" declared Keiko, realizing how depressed the girl was, "Those guys just scared me..."

Shinzui's eyes fixed on the bruises on the brunette's wrists from where Yosamu had grabbed them.

"These are nothing!" said the girl, crossing her arms, "They don't even hurt."

"I believe you're in worse shape than us," stated Yukina, smiling gently, "you shouldn't worry so much."

Shinzui didn't say anything, looking depressed, until Yume swatted her in the back of the head, causing her to shout.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"For being an idiot," stated the woman, crossing her arms, "Don't start piling guilt on your conscience. These people _chose_ to help you. It was _their_ decision. Don't you dare start blaming yourself for the results of what _they_ decided to do."

The other four were completely shocked by this display, but it was Kuwabara who spoke first.

"Yeah," he said, nodding, "You didn't make us do anything. I really wanted to fight them. I needed the exercise anyway."

The boy's earnest expression made Shinzui burst out laughing. She continued to laugh even though it made her sore body hurt even more.

"Hey, I made her laugh," said Kuwabara, looking proud.

"That's good," said Yusuke, looking serious, "because I'm going to ask her a tough question."

Shinzui went quiet and looked at him._ I think I know what he's going to ask about,_ she thought.

"How do you know Tenma Nejiru?" asked the boy, sitting down next to Yume, "it didn't seem like you were friends."

Kuwabara, Keiko, Yukina, and Kurama also sat down where they stood. Shinzui was thankful because she didn't have to look up at them anymore. She took a calming breath and then began her story, looking somber.

"Tenma used to be my boyfriend."

"How the hell did you end up with a jerk like that?" exclaimed Kuwabara.

"He _used_ to be nice," sighed the girl, dropping the eye contact, "We met during the last year of middle school. I was having a rough time and that's when he approached me. Hell, he was a transfer student and very popular with the girls, so I was surprised that he even talked to me. He was the exact opposite of how he was today. Kind, gentle...Not obnoxious. Certainly won me over after a while and I ended up agreeing to be his girlfriend by the time we started high school. Things were good for a few months, but..."

"Things didn't stay that way?" asked Kurama, watching the girl closely.

Shinzui nodded sadly. "It started out as small things and escalated rather quickly, but I was already in too deep."

"Too deep?" repeated Yusuke, frowning, "Did you..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish his thought.

"Oh, no!" said Shinzui, looking at him, waving her hands a bit to try to emphasize her words, "That was a limit I put on our relationship. Sure he wanted to, but I always said no..." Her eyes seemed to say something different.

"He never forced you, did he?" asked Keiko, looking concerned.

"He does have a reputation for being aggressive with women," commented Yusuke.

Shinzui fiddled with some of Kouken's fur. "He tried a few times, but he never succeeded. One of his friends always intervened."

"Who?" asked Keiko, "none of those guys seemed like they'd stop him."

"It was a former member," muttered Shinzui, "I'd rather not talk about it."

The group glanced at each other and Kuwabara looked like he wanted to press further, but Yume shook her head in warning.

"About a month after I turned sixteen things got even worse for some reason," said Shinzui, continuing her story, "The abuse got worse and he controlled just about every aspect of my life. It took eight months for me to get up the courage to dump him. He's been stalking and harassing me ever since. Though he has gotten more persistent in the past month."

Keiko seemed to do some math in her head, "Wait...Are you _still_ sixteen?"

"Yeah," replied Shinzui, shrugging, "I'll be seventeen in February."

"And you're graduating?" inquired Yusuke.

"I started middle school a year early," explained Shinzui with a shrug, "there was a miscommunication about my age and grade when the school got my papers from Germany. By the time they discovered the mistake, it was far into the school year and the administration decided to just leave me be. My grades were fine, so they didn't see any reason to change it."

"That explains why your commands were in German," commented the brunette girl.

Shinzui nodded. "Yeah, I made a project out of teaching Kouken German commands while I lived there."

"As wonderful as it is to see you getting along with your new friends," said Yume, "I want to know if Tenma has found your new school."

"I don't think so," answered the girl, shaking her head, "this is the first time I've seen him since my dad transferred me. I hope my lie about the guys also being my classmates was persuasive enough to make him look for a coed school."

Yume's eyes flashed with dislike at the mere mention of Shinzui's dad. The redhead noticed this and decided to change the subject.

"Ah, introductions. Everyone, this is Yume Chikara. She's Master Chikara's wife. Yume, this is my classmate, Keiko, and her friends Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Shuuichi." She gestured to each one in turn.

"Such fine looking boys," said Yume as she looked at the boys, flashing a sly smile to Shinzui.

Shinzui looked away from the woman, pretending that she had no idea what Yume was thinking.

"And a nice young lady, too," commented Yume, smiling at Keiko, "I'm pleased to see that Shinzui has made another female friend. She's around too many men."

"Not by choice," grumbled Shinzui, but then she noticed Yukina, "I heard Keiko call you, Yukina. Are you the Yukina that Kuwabara always talks about?"

Yukina smiled and nodded. "I think I'm the only Yukina he knows."

"I'm Shinzui," said the redhead, returning the smile, "It's nice to finally meet you."

"By the way, Shinzui," said the woman, "will you be heading home today?"

"Hell no," replied Shinzui, crossing her arms.

The scoff in the girl's tone surprised everyone, except Yume.

"Why not?" asked Keiko, blinking, "Won't your dad be worried?"

"Not really," answered the girl, shrugging, "plus if I went home like _this_," She gestured to her injured body. "He'd assign his minions to follow me everywhere for weeks, which I would prefer to avoid. I don't always stay at my house anyway."

"Why?" asked Yukina, looking curious.

"You'd understand if you met my dad," stated Shinzui, an odd smile on her face, "He's not exactly Mr. Paternal Instinct." She then made a face of disgust. "Besides, Toraeru is always there and he kind of creeps me out."

"I'll take you to the dojo then," said Yume, standing up, "Can you stand?"

"I haven't gotten the chance to try," replied Shinzui as she shifted to get to her feet. She had her hand on the wall for support, but her legs were steady enough for her to stand. "I might need a little help, but it looks like my legs work."

Yume moved next to her and draped one of Shinzui's arm over her shoulders. She was a bit taller and easily supported the girl's weight. The rest of the group got to their feet as well.

"Ah, this should work just fine," said Yume with a smile.

Shinzui looked at the group. "Thank you. I really owe you guys a lot."

"No problem," declared Kuwabara with a grin, "just call us if you're ever in trouble again."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Shinzui with a smile, but she looked a bit nervous. Then she nodded at Keiko. "I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Will you be recovered by then?" asked Keiko.

"I'll be fine with some rest," replied the girl, "and Yume's expert medical knowledge." She turned her head to look at Kurama. "Thank you for the saves today. I hope we see each other again soon."

"I do as well," said Kurama, smiling, "I enjoyed your company."

Yusuke was grinning at them in a way that made both redheads look away and ignore him.

"Well, let's go, Shinzui," said Yume, "I'll have to take you by the hospital first to make sure you don't have a concussion."

The group saw the girl's expression of disgust and as the two walked down the path, Shinzui's response drifted back to their ears.

"Bleh... Just don't let them try to keep me there for observation. I'd rather not go through the hassle of a daring midnight escape. You know how much I hate hospitals."

"Your appearance at the dojo with an IV stand you absconded is hard to forget," laughed Yume.

"It made a convenient weapon," said Shinzui, shrugging.

The two soon disappeared around a corner and, once again, Shinzui had forgotten about her bag.

# # # # # # # # # # #

Verteidig - defend (German, command form)

Angriff - attack (German)

Akage - redhead (Japanese)

Whoo! This is one long chapter! I think I got a bit overzealous with my writing, but I was having too much fun with this one. Plus there were some things I wanted to reveal and drive home. I also wanted to make Yume a bit more badass. =D Shinzui's overprotective stance about her bag was inherited from me. My attitude toward things that are mine is best compared to a dog being possessive over a favorite toy, especially if the item isn't replaceable (ex: my notebooks full of writing ideas).

Oh yeah, look! It's Kurama! I wanted Shinzui to still fall on him from a tree (like in the last versions, but under a different circumstance) because I want to keep the puns that will happen later on. Long live the puns! =D


	4. Blue Moon Café

Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakusho characters and world stuff belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. All original characters and stuff belong to me.

Author's Notes: So... In the original third chapter as well as the new one, Shinzui went back to the Chikara's dojo with Yume... So why did I have Shinzui back at _her_ house the next morning instead of the dojo in the original chapter four? I don't know! XD Yay crack in continuity. Now things are in their proper place and her location has been corrected.

Also, I've learned that contrary to popular belief, Japanese schools are only in session Monday through Friday. They used to have half days on Saturdays, but the government changed that, so I've changed things up _again_. This also means another new scene. =D Whoo! After all, she has to get her bag back. XD This gives me the chance to describe the dojo. It's more of a complex than just one building, so it's large. Warning, I'm a compulsive heavy detail description writer (though I'm sure you've noticed already XD).

# # # # # # # # # # #

* * *

Shinzui woke up early the next morning, feeling refreshed, but sore. She sat up on the thick futon mattress and glanced around the dojo bedroom. There was a writing desk with a chair, a dresser, a wardrobe, and a bookcase full of books. The walls had a few watercolor scrolls hung on them with a variety of scenes, mostly flowers and bamboo, and a few even had some haikus written on them. The redhead looked to her left to see Kouken, who was curled up on the other half of the large futon. Shinzui smiled and ruffled the fur on the dog's head. He opened his eyes and his tail immediately started wagging, thumping against the mattress.

"Hey there, Kouken," chuckled the girl, "want some breakfast?"

Kouken raised his head and gave a confirming sort of bark.

"So do I," said Shinzui, getting to her feet, "I was asleep before Yume even made dinner. Just let me take a shower first." She opened the wardrobe and looked in the mirror on the inside of the door, checking the large, square bandage on one side of her forehead, which didn't quite cover the contusion that rose around the injury. "Hmm. Looks okay. I'm just glad I didn't need stitches."

Shinzui also had a smaller square bandage on her right cheek to cover the abrasions from the brick. She then examined the rest of her injuries, which were all bruises from Tenma's kicks and some of his rougher grabs. She picked out a T-shirt and some cotton knit pants before pulling a robe over her blue pajamas and putting on slippers. She went to the door and slid it open, walking into a long hallway lined with several sliding doors. Shinzui moved to her left and went through a door into a bathroom. After her shower routine, she replaced the bandages on her face and put on the clean clothes. When she returned to the hallway, her nose caught the tantalizing scent of food that drifted through the air and her stomach rumbled.

Kouken joined the girl as she went to the right and wandered down the hall, following the smell, and found an open doorway that lead to the kitchen, which was divided into two parts by a stretch of counter space. One section had all the counter space, appliances, sink, and cabinets while the other had a table with six chairs and a door that lead to a large pantry. Another sliding door was open on the far side of the room, leading outside to a porch. Yume stood by the stove, cooking up some breakfast.

"Ah, good morning, Shinzui," she said as she caught sight of the girl, "you're up early."

"I have been asleep for over twelve hours," stated Shinzui, shrugging, "Plus my stomach seems to be demanding food."

"Well, you're just in time for breakfast," laughed Yume, "I made your favorite. Pancakes and bacon."

"Huzzah!" exclaimed Shinzui, throwing her arms up in a triumphant gesture. She winced a bit as her achy muscles disapproved of such movement.

As Yume finished cooking the food, Shinzui set the table for the two of them and poured milk into a couple of glasses. Then she grabbed a large ceramic dog dish and filled it with kibble from a large plastic container in the pantry. She set it down for Kouken, who leapt upon it with a ravenous appetite, and then rinsed and filled a ceramic water dish before placing it next to the food dish. Yume put a large plate of pancakes in the middle of the table between the platter of bacon and a bowl of fruit. The two sat down and began to eat.

After a few minutes, Shinzui glanced around as though she expected to see more people walk in. "Where's everyone else?"

"It's almost nine," replied Yume, nodding to the clock, "Ryouken's been gone since seven for the breakfast shift, Toushi went to open her shop, and Kioku's out of town until tomorrow."

"He is?" exclaimed Shinzui in surprise, "but... Yesterday you said..."

"I _lied_," stated the woman, laughing a bit at the girl's shocked expression, "I knew that the threat of all four of us being there would make that idiot run off."

"Why is he so afraid of you?" asked the redhead, cutting more of her pancakes, "I mean... You alone make him nervous, but the thought of all four of you together seems to terrify him."

"We do have the skills to rival his entire gang," replied Yume, shrugging, "but I suppose the main reason is because we are at least somewhat well known in the community. If they did anything to us they'd be hauled off by the police and that seems to be the last thing those boys want."

The two finished their meal and cleaned up the table as the clock chimed nine-thirty. Yume washed the dishes and Shinzui loaded the dishwasher.

"What do you plan to do today?" asked Yume.

"Well, I do have work at eleven," replied Shinzui, "and don't say that I should call in because I feel fine." She added the last comment quickly to keep Yume from protesting.

"Okay, I'll allow it," sighed the woman, "I know they'll keep you from overworking yourself, but what will you do until then?"

The redhead looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Would you mind helping me with a fitting?" inquired Yume with a smile.

"You just want to dress me up, don't you," said Shinzui. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Well, yes and no," chuckled Yume, adding soap to the dishwasher and shutting it, "I have an order for a woman who's measurements are close to yours. I just need some help with basic sizing." Her eyes glittered. "However, I'd also like you to try on something I made for you. Please?" She pressed a button, starting the machine.

"Oh, all right," sighed Shinzui, shaking her head, "Why not? I have nothing else to do right now."

Yume brought her to a well lit room that was full of shelves and drawers of colorful fabrics and a large sewing machine sat away from the only wall that had a window. Along the wall behind it were eight adjustable mannequins, two of which were dressed with yukatas and another had a silken jacket while the rest were draped with fabrics that were ready to be made into clothing. Yume removed the first yukata, which was a deep pink covered in a pattern of Cherry Blossom branches with flowers in full bloom. Every so often in the pattern a pale green bird was perched on one of the branches. She handed it to Shinzui.

"This is pretty," said Shinzui, putting it on, "Though pink certainly isn't my color. Makes me look like Valentine's Day."

Kouken sniffed at the fabric and tilted his head, but it didn't hold his interest, so he flopped down on the floor to watch the females work.

"There are shades that would work fine with your hair," chuckled Yume, handing her a dark maroon obi.

Yume helped Shinzui with the obi and then started checking measurements and pinning in places that needed it. After many adjustments, the redhead removed the yukata and Yume set it back up on the mannequin.

"This one is for you," said the woman, removing the other yukata.

The yukata was a light blue with a pattern of white flowers with green leaves and scattered with the flowers were butterflies with wings of deep blue and black. Yume helped Shinzui put it on and wrapped the dark blue obi around her middle. The redhead stood in front of the full length mirror that stood near the stool. She turned a bit, admiring the clothing. Yume fussed with the fabric and pulled out a brush to smooth out Shinzui's hair.

"This is gorgeous, Yume!" said the girl, turning to the woman, "You really do know what kind of colors and patterns I like."

"Of course I do," chuckled Yume with a grin, "I've been making clothing for you since you were a baby."

Shinzui was quiet for a few moments, staring at herself in the mirror as Yume made some more adjustments. Then she spoke, her voice quiet:

"Yume...You were best friends with my mom, right?"

"Like sisters," replied Yume with a smile.

"What..." She paused for a moment, hesitating a bit, "What was she like?"

The woman stopped her work and straightened up with a sigh. "She was an amazing woman, Shinzui. Kind, gentle, and very smart. Your mischievous streak comes from her though. She was a bit of a troublemaker when she was a kid." She chuckled. "We both were."

"What was she like with my dad?"

This time, Yume was the one to hesitate before speaking. "I may not like your father very much, but...he made Reichi happy. I have never seen two people more in love than your parents and they were so happy when they found out they were going to have you."

"Dad wasn't so happy once I was born," muttered Shinzui, looking away from the mirror, "I bet mom didn't expect the child she was so happy about to be her–"

"Shinzui," said the woman sharply, cutting her off, "your mother was happy on that day. I was there. She couldn't stop smiling...to the end."

"I just wish I could've known her like you did," sighed the redhead, staring at the ground.

The girl glanced at the woman, noticing an odd expression flash across her face, but Shinzui couldn't make sense of it. Yume shook her head and put her hands on her hips, speaking in a firm tone.

"Enough of this sad talk. I shall recount the daring exploits of your mother and I when we were in middle school. Those were our best pranking years since high school forced us to get more serious about studies." She smiled at Shinzui. "I'm pleased you carried on that tradition we started."

As the clock struck ten thirty, the sound of a bell echoed through the hallway, interrupting the cheerful conversation.

"Ah, we have a visitor," said Yume, heading to the door, "don't change yet. I still need to adjust the hem. I'll be right back."

Yume disappeared down the hallway, but returned a few minutes later with someone following behind. Kouken barked happily and ran over to greet the visitor.

"Shuuichi?" exclaimed Shinzui, staring at the boy in shock, "What are you doing here?"

Kurama was speechless when he saw the girl in her yukata, feeling confused by a vague tug from his memory, but this didn't last long. "You left your bag yesterday." He held it up.

"Ah, I did it again," said Shinzui, walking over to retrieve it, "I can't believe I forgot about it twice." She smiled at him. "Thank you."

Kouken nuzzled Shuuichi's hand, looking for a scratch and when the boy obliged, the dog leaned against his leg.

"I think he likes you," chuckled the girl, "he usually has trouble warming up to new people. I guess he's aware of how much you helped me yesterday." She looked at Kurama's still bruised face and she suddenly reached out with a free hand to gently touch it. "I'm so sorry that this happened to you."

The eyes of the two met, a strange spark of familiarity went through their minds. This startled Shinzui so much that she jerked back to create some distance.

_That was really weird, _she thought, staring at Kurama with wary eyes,_ Why did that feel so familiar? _Even though it hadn't been a bad feeling, it was vague enough to scare her.

Kurama was also quite surprised by the sensation and blinked at the girl before him as he thought. _What was that sudden feeling? It's like we've had this exchange before._

Luckily, Yume was there to break the stunned silence.

"Well, Shuuichi," said the woman, "since you're here, would you be so kind as to escort Shinzui to work?"

"Work?" repeated both of them in unison.

Shinzui suddenly gasped, realizing the time. "Oh my god! Work!" She rushed over to where her clothes were piled and began to take off the yukata, forgetting Kurama was even there.

The boy caught a glimpse of a dark red star on the girl's skin at the top of her left shoulder blade near her neck. At this point, Yume cleared her throat to get the girl's attention and the moment Shinzui glanced back, she remembered they had a guest. Quick as a flash, she pulled the yukata back over her shoulders.

"Oh god!" she exclaimed, turning bright red, "I'm sorry!"

Kurama didn't speak, feeling heat rise a bit in his own cheeks.

"Come along, Shuuichi," said Yume, steering the boy out of the room, "Let's give her some privacy."

Yume led Kurama back to the porch and began a conversation as they waited. Shinzui emerged a few minutes later in normal clothing with her bag. She had tied her hair back in a braid and topped it with an indigo ribbon with her rose tucked behind it. She pulled on her sneakers and went over to the two. Kouken came bounding out of the dojo behind her, but the girl sent him back to Yume, telling the dog to stay. Even with his begging look, Shinzui stood firm and the canine sat next to the woman with an expression of sadness.

"Ryouken doesn't mind him, but his size makes customers nervous," explained Shinzui.

"Well, you two have fun," said Yume with a grin, "make sure she gets there safe, Shuuichi."

Kurama nodded. "I will, Mrs. Chikara."

"Oh please, call me Yume," laughed the woman, "Mrs. Chikara sounds so formal."

The fox nodded again and he accompanied Shinzui down the path.

"Sorry about earlier," said Shinzui as they walked down the steps, her cheeks a bit pink, "I tend to get tunnel vision when panic like that."

"That's understandable," commented Kurama, looking vaguely embarrassed as well, "I don't mean to pry, but...Is that mark on your shoulder what Tenma meant with his remark yesterday?"

Shinzui was so surprised to hear this question that her foot missed a step and she would've fallen if Kurama hadn't caught her under the arms to steady her.

"Are you all right?" he asked, setting the girl back on her feet.

She bit her lip and didn't look at him. "That mark you saw..." She hesitated for a moment. "Tenma gave that to everyone in his gang." Her hand moved to touch the spot where the star was. "Though I did not get mine willingly."

Shinzui walked down the rest of the stairs, leaving Kurama to quickly follow, but she stopped at the bottom, hugging herself. The boy placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke again.

"What happened?"

It was a simple question, but it made Shinzui flinch away and whirl around to glare at him.

"I don't want to talk about it!" she snapped with a hint of a growl in her voice.

The anger quickly turned to guilt when she saw Kurama's stunned expression. Shinzui's face softened and she sighed, hanging her head.

"I'm sorry. I just...I don't want to remember it right now." She sat down on the step. "The night Tenma gave me the mark corresponds with an incident that's painful to think about." She rested her elbows on her knees with her hands at the sides of her head, focused on calming down.

Kurama sat down next to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, speaking in a gentle voice. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Shinzui met his eyes with a look of relief. "You have no idea how nice it is to hear you say that. I'm so used to being interrogated by my dad and Toraeru. It's made me rather defensive when people ask questions I'm not comfortable with."

"Well, you can tell me as little or as much as you want," commented Kurama, smiling, "It's your choice after all."

"Thank you," said the girl, smiling as well, "Okay." She clapped her hands and got to her feet. "Since you've racked up a lot of brownie points, would you like to come to the café for a free tea or something?"

"Café?" repeated Kurama, standing up.

"The Blue Moon Café," stated Shinzui, heading down the path, "It's where I work."

"Oh, of course," said Kurama, walking with her, "but I'll be happy to pay."

"Nonsense," said Shinzui, putting her hand up to point at him, "You've done a lot for me in the one and a half days you've known me, so it'll be my treat." She tapped her chin for a moment. "Hmm. In fact... Do you think you could get a hold of Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Keiko?"

"Yes, I have all their numbers," replied the boy with a nod.

"Could you call and ask them to come to the café?" asked Shinzui, putting her hands together, "Please? I'd like to treat them to something, too. I owe all of you for your help yesterday and I really want to show my gratitude. Oh! Yukina's invited, too, if she wants to come."

"Of course," said Kurama, smiling as he pulled out a cellphone, "I can do that right now. What's the address?"

Shinzui recited it to him and he dialed Yusuke's number. Once the boy picked up, Kurama chatted with him for a few minutes and then hung up.

"He's going to call Keiko while I call Kuwabara," said Kurama, repeating what Yusuke had told him.

"Perfect," said Shinzui, clapping her hands together again with a grin.

The two continued down the path as Kurama called Kuwabara and talked to him, repeating the directions. Once that was all set, the two redheads dropped into a conversation about plants and by the time they reached the café, their discussion had turned to art. Shinzui was met with a huge greeting from her fellow employees and a couple even scolded her for not taking the day off. After some curious looks at Kurama, introductions were made before she excused herself to the women's changing room.

The girl emerged a few minutes later in a uniform that was made up of a light blue, short sleeved blouse and a dark blue dress that started just below her chest with straps extending over her shoulders and a bow on the back. The end of the knee-length skirt and outer sides of the straps had blue ruffles and there was a matching bow tied in the front of her collar. The uniform was completed with navy blue, medium heel shoes that had a strap going around her ankle and the café logo, the name of the café balanced on the inside tip of a crescent moon, was splashed in light blue across the torso of the dress. The uniform held a resemblance to what was seen in maid cafés.

"Whoa," said a voice from the entrance, "looking good, Shinzui."

It was Yusuke. Kuwabara, Yukina, and Keiko were standing next to him.

"I know I look fabulous," said Shinzui theatrically as she struck a pose.

As they all laughed, the girl showed them to the table on the far side of the café where Kurama had been seated.

"How do you work here while still in high school?" asked Keiko.

"My old high school allowed students to work after school shifts at local businesses as their extra curricular activity," replied the redhead, "we still had clubs, but the school also believed that jobs helped people acquire a work ethic. My grade history is consistent and satisfying enough for the academy, so they've allowed me to keep it." She shrugged. "Anyway, select what ever you like." She handed them menus. "My treat."

"Are you allowed to do that?" asked Yukina.

"Well, I'm not the only one thanking you," chuckled the redhead with a grin, "Ryouken wants to as well."

"Ryouken?" repeated all four of them in unison.

"My boss," explained Shinzui, "Ryouken Chikara."

"Master Chikara, right?" inquired Kuwabara.

"Actually, that's his brother, Kioku," replied Shinzui, ticking something off on her fingers, "Kioku is the martial arts teacher and he's married to Yume. Ryouken and his wife, Toushi, live in the dojo with them. They're like family and very grateful for your help, so Ryouken wants to treat you to lunch."

It took a little convincing before Yukina was comfortable with the situation, but they all eventually ordered a beverage and some lunch.

"I'll get those orders in right away," said Shinzui with a smile and she went off behind the counter to a window and passed the ticket through, repeating the orders.

When Shinzui brought them their drink orders, Yusuke voice a question that he had been wondering about.

"Where is this dojo that the Chikaras own?"

"Out in the Yotsukado forest," answered the redhead, setting down their drinks, "The location is relatively new though. They used to live with Master Genkai." She passed out the drinks.

"Did you say _Genkai_?" exclaimed Kuwabara, looking surprised, "_Master_ Genkai?"

"Um... Yes," replied Shinzui, startled by this reaction, "She started teaching me not too long after I became Master Chikara's student, so I've known her since I was little. Did you know her?"

"Yeah, 'cause of Yusuke," answered the orange haired boy with a laugh.

"He told me about being her apprentice," said Shinzui, "he's really lucky."

"Yeah, she picked me," said Yusuke, scratching the back of his head, a bit embarrassed as he thought, _After I beat the other candidates._

The group was startled by a sudden crash that came from the front of the café. The noise was followed by the sounds of crying and cruel laughing and they all looked to see a girl with short black hair in a café uniform sitting on the floor with some broken china around her. A trio of boys were the source of the laughter as they tore the check in half and started to leave. Shinzui marched over and stood in front of the doors to block their way, arms crossed and eyes fixed in a glare.

"Just where do you _gentlemen_ think you're going?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Dude, this one's way hotter than the first girl," said a brown haired boy.

Shinzui's eye twitched in irritation.

"Hey, girlie," said a blonde boy in front, "how about you ditch the job and come hang out with us? We could have a lot of _fun_."

All three of the boys laughed.

"I'd rather spontaneously combust," snorted the redhead, rolling her eyes, "I will say this only once. Pay your check and apologize to Muzai or your safety is forfeit."

This made the laughter stop.

"Did you hear her, boys?" asked the blonde, "I believe she just threatened us."

"Should we show her who's boss, boss?" asked a copper haired boy, looking at the blonde.

"Yeah," said the front boy, crossing his arms, "Why don't you two do that."

The boy moved back to lean against the counter as the other two stepped forward, cracking their knuckles.

"Shinzui," said a man with sleek, short brown hair, standing behind the counter. He had emerged from the kitchen after the dishes were broken. "No fighting _in_ the café." He looked stern, but his green eyes showed that he was suppressing a grin.

"Yes, Mr. Chikara," said the redhead with an exaggerated sigh, "I won't fight _in_ the café."

Their emphases on the word 'in' escaped the minds of the gang, but it certainly caught the attention of Yusuke's group.

"Heh, you're in trouble now," chuckled the brunette, smirking at her, "You can't even fight back."

"I _can't_?" repeated Shinzui, feigning innocent surprise, "Oh my, what ever shall I do?" She spoke these words sarcastically with a well done southern accent.

The troublemakers missed the sarcasm and charged forward to attack the girl. Shinzui quickly grabbed the door handle and stepped to the side, holding it open. The boys stumbled through the door and ended up outside, but the redhead wasn't finished. She flashed a sly smile at the blonde boy and went out the door to confront his buddies. Shinzui slid into a fighting stance as the boys turned to her, angry that she had gotten the better of them.

"Will she be okay?" asked Yukina, looking at the man at the counter.

"She'll be fine," said the brunette, smiling kindly at her, "She's done this before."

"She has?" exclaimed the girl, looking shocked, "But... She's fighting customers."

"Once they're outside the café they're fair game," chuckled Ryouken, "Plus, it's technically self defense since they attacked first. She won't get in trouble so long as she doesn't hurt them too much." He crossed his arms. "She's sort of an enforcer for those who try to skip out on the check."

"An enforcer?" repeated Yusuke and Kuwabara in surprise.

"Indeed, one of several," said Ryouken, looking at them, "this neighborhood has some gang problems. Thanks to an approved community proposal, all the businesses around here have at least a few employees who are students at local dojos. The masters use it as an opportunity to train their students in strength control when facing an untrained opponent. The owners were given a set of rules created by both the masters and law enforcement, so we have to watch the fights to make sure the students follow them. I try to have at least one of my trained employees on shift every day."

When the man's eyes met their own, both boys felt a strange sensation run through their heads.

_There is something very strange about that man,_ thought Kurama, frowning slightly as he felt a similar sensation when he locked eyes with Ryouken.

Everyone was now at the window to watch the fight. Shinzui waited for the boys to attack her first before she started her assault on them. They got a few hits in, but the boys were no match for the girl's trained skills and she used that to her advantage. When the blonde boy saw that his buddies didn't were losing, he straightened up and tried to slip out of the café, but he didn't even get to the door. Ryouken had come out from behind the counter and grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt, lifting him off the ground. He held his other hand out in front of the boy, palm up, with a fierce look on his face.

"Payment," he said firmly, "now."

The boy pulled out his wallet and handed the man the money he owed.

"Good boy," said Ryouken with a smile as he dropped the blonde boy.

The boy burst out the doors and called his to his friends. They staggered over to him, sporting black eyes and one even had a bloody nose. The trio fled in terror as Shinzui, her uniform a bit dirty and disheveled now, faked a movement toward them. She grinned and went back inside, brushing the dirt off of her clothing. The girl immediately went over to Muzai with Ryouken.

"Are you all right?" asked the redhead, examining the girl for injuries, "Did they hurt you?"

"N... No," sniffed the black haired girl, her hazel eyes still gleaming with tears through her thinly framed glasses, "They tripped me, but I'm fine." She took a shaky breath to calm herself. "They scared me."

Shinzui smiled warmly at her and helped clean up the broken dishes.

"Why don't you take the rest of the day off, Muzai," said Ryouken, gently taking the serving tray from the girl's hands, "We'll clean this up."

"M... May I?" asked the tearful girl, "My sister's heading to Okinawa today and I really wanted to see her before she left."

Ryouken nodded. "Go ahead. Things are slow right now and Taikou will be here at one."

"Yeah," said Shinzui, smiling at the girl, "Kashi, Murasaki, and I can handle things. Say hello to your sister for me, will you?"

"Sure!" said Muzai, looking considerably more cheerful, "Thank you so much." She gave Shinzui a hug and hurried off to change.

"She's such a sweet girl," commented the redhead, taking the tray from Ryouken, "I'll finish cleaning this up."

"Your technique was a bit sloppy, Shinzui," chuckled Ryouken, "what is my brother teaching you?"

"The dress and heels give me a bit of a disadvantage," snorted Shinzui as she started to pick up more pieces of broken china and putting them on the serving tray, "I don't train while wearing these things." She waved a fork at Ryouken. "You should be in the kitchen. You still have customers who want their food."

The man laughed and disappeared back into the kitchen. Shinzui finished cleaning up the big pieces and set to sweeping up the small bits. She had just deposited the last of the broken pieces in the trash when Kashi, a boy with scruffy hair that had been dyed a dark green, called to Shinzui that the food was ready for her friends. His light green eyes glittered with mischief through a pair of black framed, narrow glasses when he whispered to her.

"Make sure to smile at 'em. I think the redhead likes you." He chuckled.

Shinzui gave a sigh and rolled her eyes, but she smiled at the boy. "Don't even try to set me up with people. Aren't you supposed to be the protective brotherly type?"

"But I approve of _that_ one," stated Kashi, snickering again.

"Why him?" asked Shinzui, raising an eyebrow.

"It's obvious that the two brunettes are together," replied the boy with a shrug, "also it's impossible to not notice how much the orange haired boy fawns over the other girl. Besides, the redhead came in with you this morning and you certainly seemed happy to have his company."

"Just don't let Taikou find out," snickered a girl with purple streaked, light brown hair, "He'll not only try to set you two up on a date, but he'll drag you out shopping and give you a full make over." Her blue-violet eyes sparkled with glee.

"Please don't tell him, Murasaki," begged Shinzui, gathering the food on a large serving tray, "I know Taikou means well, but Shuuichi and I are just friends. We only met yesterday."

"Sometimes that's all it takes," commented Murasaki, picking up her order for another table.

"You guys are impossible," sighed the redhead, rolling her eyes as she wandered over to the table where her friends were. "Here you go." She grinning. "Sorry it took a little longer."

"That's understandable," commented Kurama.

"Yeah, you had those punks to deal with," said Kuwabara, grinning.

"That's a pretty smooth idea the community had about the businesses hiring dojo students," remarked Yusuke.

"Well, this neighborhood is right on the borders of at least three gang territories," explained Shinzui, setting the tray down on an empty table as she began to serve her friends, "the businesses here have always had a lot of trouble with delinquents, but the idea came around when Mr. Yogashi, the bookstore owner, employed a student of a local dojo and he was able to fight off a pair of gang members who tried to cause trouble. Word spread around and more business owners started hiring martial arts students who needed work. There were a lot of issues at first, but eventually things were worked out and the community was able to strike a deal with local law enforcement, who just didn't have the man power to deal with the problems. So long as we follow the rules, everything's fine."

"What are the rules?" inquired Keiko.

The girl placed the last plate in front of the brunette and replied: "Well, it's a bit long winded, but I'll give you the basics. Fights have to be outside, the gang members must be the ones who initiate the fight, no weapons can be used, and injuries have to be minor, meaning they want us to avoid breaking bones. The point is to run them off, not hurt them. If they pull a weapon that can easily be disarmed, it's fine, but if it's something like a gun, the police have to be brought in. The police are also called if a large number show up to cause trouble. It may not sound like much, but the rules are pretty rigid and there's a set of punishments for breaking them. Depending on the infraction, you could get a fine, fired, or, in an extreme case, arrested. I was fined when I was starting out because I broke someone's arm. Didn't matter that I was new to the role. Ryouken wasn't forced to fire me thanks to extenuating circumstances, but I was put on probation for several months, which meant no fighting and Master Chikara doubled my training."

"Shinzui, you have another table," called Murasaki, gesturing to a booth with two girls.

"I'll be right over in a moment," said Shinzui before turning back to the group, "well, enjoy your meal. Feel free to order a dessert if you're still hungry. They're what the café is best known for." With another smile, the redhead swept away to see to her new customers.

The group did enjoy their meal and ended up staying for dessert. Shinzui had just handed out the plates when someone came waltzing through the door, calling with a musical, tenor voice.

"Hello everyone. Beautiful day isn't it?"

The voice belonged to a tall, slender young man dressed in rather outlandish clothing. He had fluffy black hair accented with, of all things, deep pink on his bangs.

"Who is _that_?" asked Kuwabara, staring at the strange young man.

Shinzui laughed at the boy's incredulous look before replying. "That's Taikou. He's a bit um... Flamboyant."

Taikou greeted everyone in a gentlemanly fashion before disappearing into the men's changing room.

"Is he..." started Yusuke, raising an eyebrow.

"He's bisexual," finished Shinzui with a grin, "but he tends to prefer men over women. However, his personality was like that even before he realized his preference, or so I've heard. There's a belief that he came out of the womb singing."

The young man returned wearing the male café uniform, which was made up of navy blue pants, a pale blue shirt with a pinstriped blue vest buttoned over it, black shoes, and dark blue tie tucked into the vest. His hazel eyes caught sight of Shinzui and he walked over to her.

"Shinzui, what ever happened to you?" he inquired, looking concerned.

"Tenma," replied the redhead with a sigh.

"That fiendish brute," commented Taikou, shaking his head. Then his eyes roved over the group. "Oh! Who are your new friends?"

"They're the reason I got away," said Shinzui with a smile.

"Then you all are most welcome here!" declared the young man with a flourish of his hand. Then his eyes focused on Kurama. "Well, hello there, handsome." He grinned at Shinzui. "You certainly found a good looking friend." His gaze moved to the others. "Actually, you found quite a few."

Shinzui rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh. "Go back to work, Taikou."

"You're blushing," chuckled the young man, practically dancing away to attend to some customers.

"He had too much fun with that," grumbled the girl with a hand over her red face. "Well, enjoy your desserts. I need to get back to work." She quickly hurried off to attend to more customers.

"That was interesting," commented Kurama, still a bit startled by Taikou's remarks.

As the group ate their dessert, they watched Shinzui work and interact with her coworkers, who all seemed to be playfully teasing her about something. It didn't help that she was so easily flustered by whatever they were saying, which appeared to be their goal. However, all merriment went quiet when a young man in a suit walked into the café. Shinzui stood in front of him with her arms crossed and a glare fixed on the person. Yusuke, Keiko, and Kuwabara all recognized him.

"Ryouken banned you from this establishment, Toraeru," growled the redhead, "what are you doing here?"

Immediately, Murasaki and Taikou were next to her and Kashi had disappeared into the kitchen.

"Your father was wondering where you were," replied Toraeru calmly, "you didn't come home last night."

"Lying does not become you," remarked Shinzui with a smirk, "no, wait. It's one of your talents." She scoffed at Toraeru. "I know that Yume called him yesterday when I got to the dojo. So what are you really after?"

"Shoushiko wants you to come home," stated Toraeru, "the conditions are you either come willingly or he will send out the service in _full_ force."

Shinzui gave a frustrated sigh and put a hand to her head, carefully avoiding her injury, "God, what is that man's malfunction?"

Ryouken appeared next to Shinzui, glaring at Toraeru. "Sir, leave now. I banned you for bothering my employees. If you don't leave, I will call the authorities."

Toraeru looked amused. "No need to get so angry, Ryouken." He chuckled. "I merely need an answer from Shinzui." His eyes moved back to the redhead.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Fine. Tell my dad I'll be home after my shift is over."

"And _when_ is it over?" asked Toraeru, raising an eyebrow.

_Damn,_ thought Shinzui, _He's going to make me promise specifics._ She growled a little, but then spoke aloud. "My shift ends at six this evening, so, taking travel time into account, I will be home by six-thirty. Now get out of here."

"Yes, Miss Ookami," said Toraeru, giving an exaggerated bow, "I will tell your father to expect you home by that time." Then he turned and left the café.

"One of these days I'm gonna hang that guy from a flagpole by his underpants," growled the redhead, looking irritated.

"I thought you've done that already," said Murasaki, raising an eyebrow.

"Not to him," stated Shinzui with a shrug, "not recently either. The last time I did that to someone was back in middle school." She tapped her chin, looking thoughtful. "Toraeru's a bit difficult to pull pranks on. The last thing I managed to do to him was taint all his hair products with bleach and pink hair dye."

Ryouken and the others dissolved into laughter remembering the prank, but the owner soon clapped his hands and asked everyone to go back to work. Business resumed. Shinzui returned to the group to collect their plates.

"Who was that man?" asked Yukina, handing Shinzui her plate.

"That was Toraeru Kurohebi," replied the girl, putting the plate on the tray she was holding, "My dad's head minion."

"What did he mean by the service?" inquired Kurama.

"My dad's a big man in some company," explained Shinzui, "one of the chief scientists of a lab branch that the CEO spends millions on, but no one really knows what it does." She shrugged. "The rumor is that they're experimenting on humans, but I think they're using things that aren't human."

"Why do you think that?" asked Kurama, frowning slightly.

"There is only one event that causes my father to use the word demon in any context," stated Shinzui, looking away from them, "and that's when he starts calling me 'Demon Child.'"

"He calls you that?" exclaimed Keiko, looking horrified, "Why?"

"He blames me for my mom's death," sighed the girl, "anyway, I've been overhearing my father talk about demons while on the phone with his colleagues, which is really strange because I thought my father didn't believe in them."

"Why do you think they're experimenting on demons?" asked Yusuke, looking unusually grave.

_Wow, he's being really serious about this_, thought Shinzui, raising an eyebrow when she saw the boy's expression, but aloud she said: "Because every time my father talks about these demons he mentions experiments. That's what they argue about all the time." She chuckled. "It's pretty weird stuff, but I'm probably hearing things wrong." After these words she thought, _At least I hope I'm hearing things wrong._

"Why do you say that?" inquired Kurama, a bit surprised by her laughter.

_I don't want them to think I'm insane,_ she thought before speaking aloud: "Demons don't exist," replied Shinzui, speaking in a flippant manner as she shrugged, "I've seen some weird stuff, but I don't think it happens because of demons. All the strange looking people I've been seeing are probably just fans of some new fad or something. Plus, demons have always been considered these dark, evil things and I have yet to hear otherwise, so that makes me doubt they'd be living peacefully among us if they existed." She laughed a bit awkwardly. "It's all just mythology and legend, right?"

Everyone at the table looked completely shocked by her words, but before Shinzui could ask them about it she was called back to work.

"Sorry, the job calls," said Shinzui with a smile, thankful for the distraction, "I'll see you all around." As she walked away she thought, _Oh man, that was uncomfortable...I think I said something wrong._ She glanced back at the table. _They all looked unsettled, but Yukina looks really upset..._ She sighed._ I did _not_ think things through when I babbled all that crap. Damn nervous habit._

The group waved to her when she had looked back and made their exit from the café. At first they were going to stay, but her comments about demons had disturbed them, especially Yukina. After a while, they dispersed to their houses. Shinzui worked until her shift was over and returned to her house with a box of dinner from the café. When she got back, the girl greeted her father and then went straight to her room, deciding to avoid his interrogation. She called Yume to let her know what was going on and then sat at her desk to eat her food, staring out the window as she thought about the day and berated herself again for the stupid comments. After turning away her father and Toraeru, who wanted to ask questions, multiple times, she decided that school just couldn't come soon enough and went to bed early.

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Indeed. It changed a lot. =D There were a lot of things I realized that I wanted to establish through experience rather than Shinzui talking about it. Things like Yume's job, Shinzui's relationship with her coworkers, etc. Also, once I've given a character a name... I firmly believe in using them. =D It's pretty obvious I also wanted to write another scene with Kurama and Shinzui interacting. XD

And yes... Shinzui loves bacon. =D

As much as I want to change the name of the cafe to make it less cliche...I'm attached to it and I've already designed the logo and uniform, so I'd rather just stick with it. XD


	5. Adagio Subito Vivace Nocturne

Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakusho characters and world stuff belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. All original characters and stuff belong to me.

Author's Notes: Another long chapter with lots of action. Not much else to say about it. XD Enjoy. =D

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Things were peaceful for a couple weeks and Shinzui was able to go about life with few issues. She had a few close calls with Tenma at school, but Keiko helped her avoid him. She joined the brunette's study group and Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Yukina would sometimes show up for fun, though the ice maiden always seemed a bit uncertain around this new friend. The boys, however, had brushed off the incident, especially after Keiko reminded them about their own disbelief in demons before Yusuke's spirit detective days. The redhead was like the majority of the population, unaware of demons and, for the most part, believers of the mythology. Kurama, who accompanied the party a few times, agreed that it should stay that way. Shinzui's encounters with the fox seemed to mostly happen when she was traveling to or from work and he'd walk with her to her destination, though she always went to the Chikara's dojo if he was walking her home. It was easy to tell that the girl did it on purpose, but for what reason, he didn't know. After the first week, Shinzui started to get the feeling that someone was watching her and she didn't think it was someone familiar, but she couldn't be sure. This feeling only got worse during the second week.

As January slipped away, things became tense at Shinzui's house. Her father grew more and more agitated with his colleagues each day and would constantly take it out on his daughter. She soon found out that Toraeru had been following her around on his orders since the incident with Tenma and this discovery sparked one of their worst fights that week. It happened on the first night of February. The starry skies were blotted out by thick storm clouds, making the late night darker than usual and the rumbling thunder signaled the coming rains. Sitting in a tree outside the house was another person who had been watching the redhead. Wind blew around his spiky black hair, which had some small streaks of white that created a starburst outline on the front. He let out an irritated sigh as he kept his red eyes trained on the house before him, pulling the white collared black cloak closer around him. He shifted a sheathed katana so the hilt would rest against his shoulder.

_How did I get roped into this,_ he thought, snorting grudgingly at the memory.

_"Why did you call me here?" asked the fire demon, glaring at the group before him._

_"She's our friend, Hiei," said Yusuke, "and the guy after her is really violent."_

_"He has it out for her," remarked Kuwabara._

_"And I should care, why?" asked Hiei, glowering at them._

_"We can't keep an eye on her all the time," replied Yusuke, leaning against the wall, "We can't even find her house because it's a restricted address and she won't show any of us where she lives. Every time we try to follow her we get barred by that damned Toraeru. Even Kurama got caught by him."_

_"You were caught by a human?" snorted Hiei, looking at the fox demon._

_"I can't exercise all my abilities when so many people are around," answered Kurama, frowning, "But you should be able to follow her easily."_

_Hiei glanced around at the three boys and raised an eyebrow. "and if I don't do this?"_

_"You-know-who will get a friendly tip about who her brother is," stated the redhead, fixing a firm gaze on the fire demon._

_Hiei growled in annoyance. "Fine. I'll do it."_

Hiei was startled out of his thoughts when a loud crash announced a chair's arrival through a window and angry shouts drifted through the broken window. The fire demon couldn't completely make out what they were saying, but it was definitely a male and female fighting and, from the sounds of it, the latter had thrown the chair. As a door suddenly burst open, flooding light on the walkway, he moved from his spot to settle behind nearby bushes so he could hear better. A livid redhead came storming out of the house with a duffle bag slung over her shoulder, followed by an equally angry, older man, who grabbed her arm.

"Where do you think you're going, Shinzui?" asked Shoushiko, gripping the girl's arm tightly, "You have school tomorrow."

"Like you care!" she snarled, jerking her arm away from him, "Don't you dare start acting like a father now just to get your way! I'm not staying in this house! I'm going to Yume's for the week. Find someone else to pick on."

"Typical," snorted the man, crossing his arms, "Running away from your problems instead of trying to solve them."

"_You're_ the problem!" snapped Shinzui, turning to glare at him, "You've been taking all your anger out on me lately and now I find out you've been having Toraeru follow me! Not to mention the fact that in the past week you've sent your lackeys to retrieve me every day. It's freaking out my classmates and some have already started to avoid me."

"Then why don't you stay so we can talk?" inquired Shoushiko, raising an eyebrow.

"It always ends in a fight!" exclaimed Shinzui in reply, throwing up her hands in exasperation, "and then it usually devolves into screaming, name calling, and the occasional violence! I'm sick of it!" She shot an angry look at him. "I'm also sick of that demon child insult! If mom could see your behavior she'd divorce you!" She practically spat these words out at her father.

There was a sharp, slapping sound as Shoushiko's hand connected with the redhead's cheek and her head snapped to one side from the force of the blow.

"You want to leave this house?" asked the man in a low, angry tone, "Fine. Then get out of my sight. Don't come back until you've calmed down and thought about what you've done."

"Gladly!" snorted Shinzui, glaring at him, "And don't send your goons after me this time!"

Shinzui whirled around and stormed down the path to the gate, hearing her father slam the door as he went back inside. She went through the gate and along the path next to the brick wall that surrounded the property. She lightly touched her stinging cheek before balling her left hand into a fist and, with a scream of frustration, slammed the back of it into the wall. The punch left faint, but still noticeable damage, and the top of her hand was now bruised and bleeding. She ignored it as she continued down the path, unaware that Hiei followed behind her, darting from tree to tree. He only stopped once to examine the damage she had done to the wall.

_Her strength is a bit unexpected for a human female,_ he thought, _but not extraordinary. _He lost interest quickly and returned to trailing the female.

However, Shinzui seemed to have caught on that someone was following her because she turned and glared back behind her.

"I know you're there!" she growled, "Why don't you show yourself?" It was reckless, but Shinzui was itching for a fight. She flinched a bit when she heard thunder rumble overhead.

Hiei stayed hidden and kept quiet, preferring to avoid direct contact, but his interest was caught when he sensed a strange disruption in her human aura. This spectacle of him following and her turning back to shout at him, though she didn't know for sure that someone was there, continued all the way to a park that was located between her house and her destination. For what seemed like the thousandth time, Shinzui turned around and yelled angrily at the presence she felt behind her, but this time, someone answered. Hiei's head snapped up as a demonic aura appeared and something landed in the shadows near the girl.

"Who the hell are you?" snarled Shinzui, glaring at the strange figure in the shadows.

"Little wolfy is hard to find," hissed the figure, "indeed she is."

"Little wolfy?" repeated the redhead, looking even angrier, "Look, pal, I don't know who you are, but show yourself right now so I can kick your ass!"

The figure chuckled as it move forward and as the light of a park lamp fell on it, Shinzui's jaw dropped in horror. The creature was quite a bit taller than her with gray leathery skin and scraggly black hair, which fell over big, pointed ears. It stared at her with beady black eyes that glinted with excitement. It laughed, showing fangs, and a flexed a pair of large, bat wings before folding them on its back. It wore only a pair of dirty, torn up pants and a dark red crystal hung around its neck. The redhead was frozen with terror until the weird facial structure registered as vaguely familiar in her brain and she realized what it resembled.

"Bat!" she screamed, whirling around before sprinting down the path.

All the bat demon did was hiss and take off after her, spreading out its great wings to fly. As it did this, lightning flashed through the sky and rain began to pour down.

"Dammit," grumbled Hiei, running after them.

Shinzui ran as fast as she could, screaming like a banshee, and eventually stopped at a large pine tree near the center of the park. With a big sigh, she leaned against it, panting and trying to catch her breath. She was soaked from the rain and shivered, dropping her bag on the driest ground under the tree to rest her shoulder. There was a clatter on the branches above her and the girl looked up to see the bat hanging upside down from a branch. It lunged at her, swiping and grabbing with its clawed hands. Shinzui had moved in time to avoid its grip, but she yelped as its claws raked across the top her right shoulder and chest

"Dear god and everything sacred in life!" she exclaimed, gingerly touching the bleeding gashes, "What the hell is that thing?" Her hysterics over the bat had calmed a bit because she couldn't see the creature clearly anymore.

"A demon," replied Hiei, appearing in front of her.

The redhead let out another shriek, scooting away from him. "Who the hell are you?"

Hiei didn't answer because he had to quickly fend off an attack from the bat demon, who was hissing angrily at him. Shinzui watched in amazement as the two began to fight at a rapid pace, but her eyes couldn't keep up with the shorter demon's movements. After a few slashes from Hiei's sword, the bat demon flew high into the air and the fire demon followed him, jumping off the trees to reach the enemy. Unfortunately, just as he appeared behind the demon, the bat turned its head and let out a loud, high pitched screech that made the air vibrate. Hiei was so close that the sound waves hit him, making his ears ring, and he became extremely disoriented. The bat demon slashed him across the chest as he dropped from the sky, unable to control his body, but a pair of arms caught him before he hit the ground. It was Shinzui. She quickly moved over to the pine tree and set Hiei underneath it.

"I don't know who you are," she said with a smile, "but thank you."

The bat demon landed a couple feet behind her, laughing. The redhead straightened up, keeping her eyes on Hiei as she spoke.

"My turn." Her voice was a bit shaky, but there was determination in her eyes.

Shinzui took a deep breath and turned around, shifting into a defensive fighting stance. She was cold, wet, and very afraid of the bat before her, but she felt a renewed strength rising in her. A complete stranger had just risked his safety for her, though she didn't know why, and now she wanted to protect him from the angry demon. However, Hiei didn't have much faith in the protection that the human offered and a pale glow appeared under the white cloth around his forehead as his mind called out to one of the people responsible for putting him in such a situation.

_Kurama?_

There was no reply.

_Kurama._ Hiei's voice was louder.

Still there was no reply.

_Wake up, you stupid fox!_ shouted Hiei's voice in anger.

_What is it, Hiei?_ replied Kurama, his voice sounding tired, _Why are you yelling?_

_You didn't tell me that there were demons after your new friend,_ stated Hiei, irritation in his voice.

There was a long pause before the fox replied. _What?_

_Indeed, _said Hiei,_ A bat demon._

_Why didn't you take it out?_ exclaimed Kurama.

The fox sounded worried, but Hiei could hear traces of anger, which he thought was interesting.

_It hid its aura until it attacked. I fought it, but then it used some sort of sonic attack against me. Now I can't move my body and I can't see straight. Call the others and come over here before your friend gets herself killed._

_What is she doing?_ asked Kurama. On his end, he was frowning at Hiei's last statement.

_She's just as stupid as Yusuke and the buffoon, _replied Hiei,_ Instead of running, she's trying to defend me._

_I'll get the others and be right over,_ said Kurama.

Hiei sighed as the connection ended and looked up at the redhead in front of him. His vision had cleared as he talked to Kurama, but his body still wouldn't respond to his brain's commands. Shinzui was shaking a bit, but stood firm as her opponent swaggered toward her. The girl's muscled tensed and the fire demon felt the girl's human aura flicker strangely again. She glared at the bat, but all it did was laugh.

"Little wolfy wants to play." It was very amused by this. "Master Koumori misses little wolfy and doesn't want her hurt."

"Quit calling me that!" snapped Shinzui, annoyed and confused by this nickname, "Are you blind? Do I look like a wolf to you?"

"Master Koumori said little wolfy lost her Makai beauty," muttered the bat demon, looking Shinzui up and down, "but her Ningenkai beauty pleases him just as much."

"Who the hell is this Koumori?" exclaimed the redhead, frustrated by the bat's ramblings.

"Little wolfy will soon know," replied the demon, laughing again, "Master Koumori sent me to find her and now here she is. I will bring you back to master and he will reward me."

At first, Shinzui looked too scared to move or even fight back when the bat reached for her, but she suddenly ducked down and launched her fist into the demon's abdomen, putting her full weight behind the attack. The creature staggered backwards, clutching its stomach in pain and soon found itself on the receiving end of a roundhouse kick to its side. The bat tumbled to the ground and a foot connected with its head, sending it rolling down a hillside. Shinzui watched the bat disappear down the hill, shaking her hand, which was sore from punching the demon's tough body.

"Like hell I'm going anywhere with a...a..." said Shinzui, hesitating when she realized she had just reminded herself of what the demon resembled, but she managed to finish. "A b...bat..." She paused searching for the right word. "Thing."

Hiei was a bit startled by Shinzui's unexpected ferocity against the demon, but he knew that her attacks had been too weak to defeat it. However, the girl obviously thought the strange creature had been taken care of because she turned her back on the hillside and started to walk back to Hiei. Kurama's voice suddenly echoed through the fire demon's mind.

_Hiei. We're at the park. Where are you?_

_Near the center, _replied Hiei,_ I'll raise my aura so you can find us, but don't bother trying to find the bat demon's aura. It seems it can hide it._

_Is Shinzui okay?_ asked the fox demon, sounding very concerned.

_She just knocked the demon down a hill, _stated Hiei,_ She's strong, but it seems she doesn't realize how tough demons really are._

An angry screech broke the air as the bat demon flew into the air and dove at Shinzui, eyes full of rage.

"Holy shit!" exclaimed the redhead in shock.

Shinzui quickly threw herself to the ground to avoid the creature's outstretched hands and it overshot her, sweeping high into the air again.

"Tricky little wolfy," it hissed angrily.

Shinzui groaned as she got to her feet, feeling sore, and grumbled. "Yeah. Tricky. Stupid is more like it."

The girl had to drop back to the ground as the bat demon dove at her again.

"Jeez!" she growled, "This thing doesn't give up! I need something..." She looked around the area. "A weapon." Her eyes fell on the branches of the pine tree and her lips curved into a grin.

Shinzui ran for the tree, slipping around a bit on the wet grass and mud, and ducked several times to avoid her attacker, but she successfully reached it. Hiei watched in interest as the girl grabbed a lower branch and used her foot to break it from the tree before stripping it of the smaller branches. The bat made another dive at her and this time Shinzui stepped forward with the branch, holding it like a baseball bat and waited for the demon to get close enough.

"Batter up!" she yelled, swinging her weapon at the creature.

The demon moved just in time to avoid getting hit in the head, but the branch still connected with its left shoulder. There was a crack as the wood splintered and broke against the strong limb. At the same moment, the bat let out a shriek, wobbled, and crashed into the ground. Shinzui had managed to fracture the bone in its arm.

"Not quite a home run, but a grounder works," remarked Shinzui as she discarded the broken stick and shook her numb hands.

Unfortunately, this attack merely enraged the demon further and it scrambled up, glaring at the female.

"It seems all you've done is made him angrier," commented Hiei.

Shinzui shot the fire demon a withering look. "Shut up! That just means he won't be thinking straight and fighting him will be easier." She didn't sound entirely confident, but she seemed determined.

_Did she do all this just to anger it?_ thought Hiei, frowning, but then he spoke aloud. "Indeed. However, demons can sometimes be stronger when angry."

"Demon?" repeated Shinzui, staring at him, "you were serious about that before? _That's_ a _demon_?" Her eyes moved back to the bat and muttered quietly to herself. "Well, it does kind of look like those illustrations I found in dad's study."

Shinzui was unaware that Hiei was able to hear this and the fire demon's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What illustrations?" he asked.

Shinzui was startled that he had heard her, but she didn't get to reply because a thick wing collided with her, sweeping her off the ground and into the tree branches far above Hiei. The fire demon had partially recovered from the sonic attack and staggered to his feet as the bat demon stalked toward the tree. It turned its attention on him and hissed, getting ready to attack him, but it screeched in anger when Shinzui dropped from the branches on to its back, wrapping her arms tightly around its neck. It growled and whirled around, trying to grab the girl, who kept kicking its wings every time it tried to take flight. It eventually managed to reach around and haul her off its back, throwing her across the area. It had begun stalking toward her when a shout rang out.

"Hey, ugly! It's pretty low to treat a girl that way!"

Shinzui stared in horror at the owner of the voice. It was Yusuke. On either side of him were Kuwabara and Kurama. The bat demon whirled around and screeched in anger when it caught sight of the boys.

"Intruders! Humans come to steal my reward!" However, when it saw Kurama, its eyes then flicked over to Hiei as though remembering something. "Demons! Traitor demons come to steal my reward." Its eyes were bulging out as it shrieked this.

"You certainly have a limited vocabulary," grumbled Shinzui, but his last comment caught her attention and she frowned as she thought: _I__ had a feeling that the short one might be a demon because of how fast he was moving, but who's the other one?_ Instead of voicing this question, she chose to shout at the boys. "Get out of here! This thing is dangerous!"

"And miss all the fun?" chuckled Yusuke, shrugging.

"You're insane," said Shinzui, staring at the boy in amazement, "This thing could rip you to shreds!"

The girl's shouts had brought the bat's attention back to her and it lunged at her, finally succeeding in grabbing hold of her. In an instant, the creature spread it wings and began to take flight, keeping a tight grip on the girl. There was a flash of bright blue light and a streak of energy ripped through the bat's wing. It screeched in pain and crashed into the ground, lying quite still. Shinzui quickly kicked at it, wriggling herself free, and scrambled away from the bat. She stared at the three boys and saw Yusuke standing with his finger pointed at the bat like a gun. A thin aura that matched the energy she had seen was around him.

"Spirit energy," murmured Shinzui, staring at him.

"So you know what that is?" asked Yusuke, coming forward to help her up.

Kurama went over to check on Hiei, who was still a little disoriented.

Once she was back on her feet, the girl replied. "Yes, Master Genkai explained it to me several years ago."

Yusuke was startled by this statement. "Why would she tell you about spirit energy?"

Shinzui looked around on the ground and then plucked a dandelion that hadn't bloomed yet. She held it up so Yusuke could see and as she concentrated on it, the flower became surrounded by an aura that was so faint that the color couldn't be identified. However, the boy paid no attention to the aura, instead he was fascinated as he saw the flower develop and burst into bloom. Kuwabara had walked up just in time to see this and he let out an exclamation of surprise.

"You can use spirit energy?"

These words caught the attention of the other two and they listened to the conversation.

"Ever since I was little I've been able to make plants grow, bloom, and I can even heal them," explained Shinzui, putting the flower back in the ground and, with a little more spirit energy, reconnected the plant to its original stem. "I can't really use it much beyond that. Master Genkai tried to help me develop it, but I always hit a weird block." She smiled a bit at Yusuke. "That's the reason she rejected me when I asked about being her apprentice." She sighed. "Though lately things have been a bit more flexible." She looked at Kuwabara. "I take it you can use spirit energy too?"

"Indeed I can," said the boy proudly as he produced a sword out of his orange spirit energy.

"Wow, that's cool," commented Shinzui, staring at it, "Wish I could do that, but who or what would I use it-"

Shinzui was interrupted when a sudden burst of wind knocked the three to the ground. She looked to see that the bat demon had gotten up and it looked as though it had gone mad with rage. It released another gust of wind at them, but this time it had targeted the two boys next to the redhead and they went flying backward, landing near the tree. The girl looked to see if they were all right and they appeared to be because they were getting to their feet. She turned back and saw the bat demon launch itself right at her, clawed hands extended in hopes of grabbing her again. Shinzui, on the other hand, thought it was going to tear her apart. With a shriek of fear, she threw her hands out to protect herself, but something unexpected happened. She felt energy surge through her veins and a burst of silver light flew from her palms, knocking the demon away from her when it was hit in the chest. The girl quickly scrambled over to the tree where the boys were.

"Uh..." said Shinzui, looking at her hands, "That was strange..."

"Are you able to do it again?" asked Kurama.

"I have no idea how I did it in the first place," replied Shinzui, shrugging, "I just wanted to keep that thing from killing me." She dropped to the ground to sit. "Though I do feel really tired now."

"Your body probably isn't used to using the energy like that," explained Kurama, kneeling down to check her injuries.

A hissing laugh echoed through the air as the bat demon appeared again. Its chest had a huge starburst burn across it. "Little wolfy has fought back with spirit energy." He grinned at the girl, fangs gleaming. "Now I'm allowed to do more damage."

"I didn't do it on purpose!" declared Shinzui, waving her hands.

The demon ignored her and looked at the boys, "Master also said to kill anyone who gets in the way."

Another whirlwind knocked over Yusuke and Kuwabara, but Kurama managed to avoid being blown away by staying low to the ground. He quickly moved in front of Shinzui as the bat stalked closer to them and produced a rose from his hair. The girl stared in amazement as the flower changed into the strange, green whip she had seen during their encounter with Tenma. The boy lashed it at the demon whenever it got too close and it kept moving back to evade the weapon, but finding that it couldn't get anywhere with this, the creature put out its injured arm. When the rose whip wrapped tightly around the limb, the demon jerked his arm and moved backward, dragging a surprised Kurama with it.

_Why didn't my whip tear its arm off?_ thought Kurama, narrowing his eyes. The bat's pendant caught his eye as he sensed an odd aura emanating from it._ There's something strange about that stone._

The bat used its free arm to grab Kurama by the neck, digging its claws into his skin, and hauled him off the ground. It was about to crush his throat when it realized that the fox was reaching for the stone. With a screech, the demon quickly threw him away before he could get his hands on the pendant, but the bat's reaction seemed to confirm something for him.

"That stone is protecting it!" shouted Kurama after landing on the ground, "That's why it our attacks haven't done much damage. It might also be strengthening its powers."

"Then let's take it out," said Yusuke, pointing his finger at the demon.

The moment the bat felt in danger, it moved quickly and caught up Shinzui from the front by the neck, holding her as a shield for the pendant. As the demon let out laugh, she punched it in the face, but all this earned her was its hand tightening around her neck. The tips of its claws dug into her skin and she could barely breathe. Any time one of the boys started to come forward, the demon shifted to put Shinzui in the way of their attack, making them stop. The girl clawed at its face with her nails, hoping this would make it drop her, but the demon just hissed at her and sunk its teeth into her right forearm. She let out a yelp of pain and her arm dropped to her side once it was released.

_There's got to be a way to stop this thing, _thought Shinzui desperately as she felt herself starting to get light headed,_ What did Shuuichi say about the stone... It was being protected? If I could just do that energy attack again..._

The girl thought back to how it felt when the energy came out of her hand and concentrated on that feeling. Shinzui soon felt that same surge run through body again and she focused on her palms, sending the energy to them. She threw out her hands, aiming them at the stone, and the boys were blinded by a flash of silver light as a large ball of spirit energy was released. The attack didn't stop once destroying the pendant though, it spread across the demon and burned through its skin. The creature let out a high pitched howl of pain as its body shattered into dust. Shinzui, surrounded by a silver aura, dropped to the ground, coughing, and took several deep breaths. Her hands stung from the mild burns the attack had left because of the chaotic release. She stared in shock at the pile of dust and demon bits as it washed away in the continuing rain. After a few moments, she shook her head, remembering the presence of her friends.

"Is everyone okay?" coughed the girl, looking around at the boys as her ghostly aura faded away.

"We're fine," replied Yusuke, looking impressed, "You have some power behind you."

All the boys came over to her, including Hiei, who had regained the ability to maintain his balance, though he still couldn't hear out of one ear.

"I couldn't control it very well," muttered Shinzui, feeling exhausted, "Jeez. I feel like I've been run over by a train." She was sweating from her exertion and felt a bit ill.

"You don't look so good," remarked Kuwabara, "you're really pale."

Kurama had knelt down and was examining the bite on Shinzui's arm. "He missed the cluster of veins on your wrist, but this is still quite bad. I need something to bandage it."

There was a ripping noise and all eyes turned to Hiei, who was tearing strips from his cloak. Silently, he handed them to Kurama and glared at the other two boys, daring them to make jokes, but they kept their mouths shut. The fox tightly bound the girl's injury, putting firm pressure on it to try to stop the bleeding. He also checked the injuries on the girl's neck, chest, and shoulder and more of Hiei's cloak was used to bandage them. During this entire process, Shinzui had slowly been slumping more and more to one side, very drained from the entire incident.

"We need to get you some where to recover," said Kurama, "should we take you home?"

"Hell no," said Shinzui groggily, "dad and I had a huge fight and I don't plan to go back there for at least a week." She pointed at her duffle. "I was heading to the Chikaras when that thing attacked me."

"Should we take you there then?" asked Yusuke. He looked over at Kurama. "Shuuichi, you said you've been there before."

Yusuke still used Kurama's human name because the boy had insisted, using the explanation that even though Shinzui now knew of their spirit energy abilities, she still didn't know about Kurama being a demon. For now, he wanted to keep it that way. However, the girl surprised everyone, except Hiei, by shaking her head:

"Master Chikara has tests going on this week and Yume just got a huge order from a Kabuki company. I would've been able to help before, but now I'd just be more work for them." She sighed, looking rather unhappy. "Well...I guess the hospital will have to do...I could blame this on a feral dog or something."

Seeing the reluctance, Kurama spoke up. "My house is pretty close to this park. You can stay there."

"What about your parents?" asked Yusuke, "Won't this be a bit awkward?"

"I'm in university," replied Kurama, "I have a place of my own now. Where do you think Hiei's been staying?"

"I don't want to impose," murmured Shinzui, not looking at him, "I could put up with the hospi-"

"It's fine," he interrupted, "I have plenty of room."

When Shinzui finally agreed, Kuwabara and Kurama helped the girl to her feet, but she found it difficult to stay that way even with their support. Her insistence that she'd be fine was cut off when the taller boy swept her off the ground into his arms. Yusuke was not satisfied with this result, so he jabbed him in the side and Shinzui heard him whisper something about Yukina. She was suddenly handed off to Kurama, who looked just as surprised as she did, and Kuwabara apologized before declaring his everlasting love for the ice maiden. Out of the corner of her eye, Shinzui saw Hiei twitch and put his hand on his katana.

_Why do I get the feeling he doesn't like what Kuwabara's saying,_ thought the girl, _I wonder why._

Yusuke grabbed Shinzui's duffle, slinging it over his shoulder, and the group left in the direction of Kurama's place. They arrived at the house after about half an hour of walking, went inside, and started to get everything settled. They were all soaked to the skin as well as muddy from the rain and by now Shinzui was very cold, shivering all over. She examined her bag to find that almost everything was wet. The only things that were still relatively dry, her messenger bag and some undergarments, had been buried at the very bottom against plastic base. Kurama retrieved a set of pajamas from his closet and handed them to the girl.

"Anything dry is fine," laughed Shinzui, smiling with gratitude, "though I definitely need to bathe before I change." She twirled some muddy hair in her fingers.

"You want some help?" asked Yusuke with a teasing grin.

"I don't need any help," declared the girl, vehemently, "Shuuichi, do you have a tub?"

Kurama nodded as he replied, "Yes, there's one upstairs."

"Perfect," said Shinzui, smiling, "I'll be just fine if I use that."

The girl noticed that Kuwabara was wearing a grin that matched Yusuke's.

"Oh, you'd better wipe those smiles off your faces before I smack 'em off," said Shinzui, brandishing a box of tissues that had been nearby. She was not amused by their lewd smiles.

"What could you possibly do with that?" asked Kuwabara, snickering.

The boy learned exactly what she could do with it when she threw it at him and he was beaned by the box, causing him to fall over.

"That," replied the girl with a faint smirk, "seriously, guys. Do you really want to make jokes like that? Remember _who_ I've been around?" The smirk was now gone from her face and she looked stern.

Hiei didn't understand this, but he noticed the smiles disappear from the faces of Kuwabara and Yusuke as they looked apologetic.

"Sorry, Shinzui," said Yusuke, scratching the back of his head, "we didn't think about that."

"Don't worry about it," sighed the girl, waving her hand a bit, "you weren't trying to be mean. Those sorts of jokes just make me uncomfortable." A smile played across her face. "Besides, should you two really be contemplating such things about _other_ girls?" She looked thoughtful. "I wonder what Keiko and Yukina would think."

Yusuke chuckled a bit and shrugged, but Kuwabara looked horrified and begun to declare is everlasting love for Yukina again. Shinzui just laughed and, with the help of Kurama, left the scene to go upstairs. After reaching the bathroom, he handed her a first aid kid and left, shutting the door behind him. The girl set the kit on the sink and then got over to the tub, peeling off her dirty clothes. She took the rose out of her disheveled, muddy braid, which she undid, and set it on the edge of the bathtub before starting the water. Shinzui got in the tub and washed herself before gently rinsing off the flower.

Once clean and dried, the girl used the first aid kit to bandage the wounds on her neck, chest, and shoulder, which was a bit tricky, but she got it eventually. She bandaged whatever other open wounds she was able to, but her hands and arms proved to be more difficult, so she just bound her wrist as best she could and left the rest for later. Then she put on the deep green pajamas, which were loose on her, but still fit well enough, and tucked the rose in the front pocket before brushing out her hair. Shinzui then emerged from the bathroom with the kit and made her way along the hall, using the wall for support. When Kurama saw her at the top of the steps, he quickly went up to help her down to the couch and started to take care of her hands and arms. Shinzui threw her messenger bag at Yusuke when he snickered at the girl's sulky expression.

"Shut up," grumbled the girl, holding up her right arm for Kurama as he fixed the bandage on her wrist, "I don't like being so helpless."

"You said yourself that you've never used spirit energy that way," said Yusuke, "it's only natural that your body would be drained after the attacks you used."

"I guess so," sighed Shinzui, using her left hand to cover her mouth as she yawned.

"Done," said Kurama, moving to tend to the others.

Shinzui dropped her right arm and smiled. "Thank you." She looked around at the boys, who were now being patched up by Kurama, and sighed. "Again you all save my life." She looked at Hiei. "and you... I don't even know your name, but thank you."

"Hiei," stated the fire demon, shrugging.

Kurama made the demon take off his shirt to clean and bandage his chest injuries.

"You're a demon, aren't you," commented Shinzui. Her words were more of a statement than a question.

The group stared at her. Everyone was surprised by her remark, except for Hiei, who merely raised his eyebrow in response.

"What?" said Shinzui, looking rather unperturbed, "I know that humans can't move that fast nor can they jump the way he did. Even the masters can't achieve such speed and height. I just figured he wasn't human. The demon thing was a guess."

"I'm a fire demon," stated Hiei, hoping to put the conversation to rest as he pulled his shirt back on.

"How'd a demon become friends with humans?" asked Shinzui, rather curious.

The group was unsure how to answer this because Kurama didn't want Shinzui to know he was a demon quite yet nor did they want to deal with the explanation of Reikai and KoEnma.

"Um... We saved his life," answered Yusuke, scratching the back of his head, "And he's been a friend ever since."

"Interesting," remarked Shinzui, tapping her chin with a thoughtful look on her face. "I guess the research materials I've found are biased."

"Research materials?" repeated Hiei, frowning slighting, "You mentioned illustrations before and your father."

"That's where I've gotten my information," replied Shinzui with a sigh, "once I heard that first argument about demons I wanted to know more, so I broke into my dad's study and checked out the research files he had brought home. There was some interesting stuff in there."

"Why didn't you mention this before?" asked Yusuke, "You talked about your dad's job at the café."

"And what about all those things you said?" added Kuwabara, looking a bit confused.

"That was mostly nervous chatter," sighed the girl, shaking her head with a rather embarrassed expression, "the files I read and the tidbits I've heard from eavesdropping on my dad over the past few months convinced me that there was the possibility of demons existing, but I wasn't sure where you stood on that subject. The general population has the stance that demons don't exist and if they did, they'd follow the mythology of being evil, so...that's what I kinda went with." She shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck, now looking uncomfortable. "Though in hindsight it was a bad idea...I'm not sure why, but I think I upset Yukina." This brought a new question to mind. "Do Keiko and Yukina know about this?"

"Yeah," answered Yusuke, nodding, "Keiko's known for a while now and well...Yukina is a Koorime."

"A what?" inquired Shinzui, looking curious.

"A Koorime," repeated Kurama, "also known as an ice maiden. Majority of their population lives on an isolated island and their nickname comes from their mastery over the ice element. While they're peaceful, they are considered to be part of the demon race."

Shinzui put a hand to her mouth with a horrified expression. "Oh my gosh...and I said all those things..." She sighed. "Crap. No wonder she's been so anxious around me."

"I'm sure that can be remedied if you talk to her," suggested the fox, "she'll understand your situation."

"I hope so," sighed Shinzui, the feeling of guilt still prominent on her face.

Yusuke decided this was a good time to change the subject and he jerked his thumb at Kuwabara as he said: "His older sister knows about demons, too."

"Really?" said the girl, looking at the tall boy, "a sister?"

"Yeah, Shizuru," replied Kuwabara, "she's got a psychic ability though, so she's known about spirit stuff for a really long time."

Shinzui leaned back against the couch with a large yawn, but she smiled when she spoke her next words. "A sister. Must be nice." She sighed. "I'm an only child."

"It's not always nice," said the orange haired boy, rubbing the back of his head, "She hits me in the head a lot. Sometimes she calls me stupid, too."

However, Shinzui didn't hear this because she had drifted off to sleep.

"You bored her to sleep," remarked Hiei, looking amused.

"Shut up, midget!" snapped Kuwabara.

Hiei put his hand on his hilt, but Yusuke and Kurama came between them, gesturing for them to be quiet. The redhead set Kuwabara to the task of taking Shinzui's duffle and messenger bag to the second guest room. The room was upstairs next to his own room and across from the first guest room, which Hiei was using. Kurama followed him to the room with Shinzui and tucked her in the bed, but paused when he noticed the rose in the pajama shirt pocket. He located a vase, filled it with water, and carefully removed the flower before placing it in the vase, which he then set on the beside table.

Since it was so late, the fox offered the two couches in the living room for Yusuke and Kuwabara, but they declined and headed home. Hiei retired to his room for the night. Kurama took a shower, bandaged any injuries he had, and then went to bed. He lay in bed for a few moments thinking about the events and realized that Shinzui's spirit energy aura had felt a bit familiar, but when he tried to remember why, nothing appeared. The exhaustion of the day soon took his mind and he found himself falling into a sleep flooded with dreams.

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Whee! Another long one that I wrote from scratch!

Yes, as usual, Hiei gets blackmailed into doing favors. XD

Oh, I'm not trying to get Kurama and Shinzui together at all. *innocent look* I don't mind being obvious with the pairing I want since I've had the old finished version up for so long. Besides...That's one of the reasons I wrote this story. XD However, I'm not going to make it easy. Bwahahaha.


	6. To Sleep Perchance To Dream

Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakusho characters and world stuff belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. All original characters and stuff belong to me.

Author's Notes: When I originally wrote this chapter, I answered a bunch of questions from a reviewer. I got one of those answers wrong. XD The Aoitsuki of the title is broken up into Aoi - Blue and Tsuki - Moon. However, Yurai does NOT mean destiny or fate. That's Unmei. Yurai actually means origin, source, history, derivation, or reason (at least it does in the dictionary I checked). This still works, so I'm not changing the title. I may explain this later.

I also added in the dream that Shinzui's having. What you must remember is that dreams may go on for pages, but they usually only take minutes to have.

# # # # # # # # # # #

_A silver fox trotted to the middle of a field full of tall grass and flowers. After a few moments of admiring the night sky, the animal's form distorted and started to change shape. Soon a tall man with long, light silver hair stood in its place, his silver fox ears swiveling a bit as they picked up a soft humming. His golden eyes settled on the back of a person not too far away from him and his silver fox tail twitched. A breeze rustled the fabric of his white, Arabian pants and sleeveless kaftan, which was tied at the waist by a sash. The figure in front of him was staring up at the bright, full moon that hung in the dark sky dotted with stars._

_The person turned around to face the fox demon and he found himself staring into the amber eyes of a female wolf demon. Her long, deep silver hair was blown about by the wind and a pair of silver wolf ears poked through the strands. She flicked her white tipped, silver tail, which was almost as long and full as the fox's, indicating he could approach. She wore a pale blue outfit of a similar style to the male's, except she had dark, form fitting shorts that ended at the knee instead of pants and a dark blue sash was tied around her waist. Her mouth curved into a mysterious smile as she folded her arms across her chest. The moonlight was bright enough to illuminate the scars scattered across her exposed limbs._

_"You're late, Youko," she said in a melodic voice, "I've been waiting for over an hour." Her eyes had a mischievous glint in them._

_"I would've been here sooner," replied the fox demon, smiling a bit, "but my gang wanted to finish the plan before we dispersed."_

_"Did Kuronue insist on doing the looting tonight?" asked the wolf demon._

_"Yeah, but we persuaded him to follow the plan," answered Youko, chuckling as he walked to her._

_"You know that I worry when you go thieving, Youko," said the wolf demon as she gazed up at the taller demon, "I fear that you'll get caught one of these days...and I don't want to lose you." She caressed Youko's cheek with her hand, her eyes softening when she smiled at him._

_"Inu, I won't get caught," said Youko, sighing, "Don't worry." He cupped her face in his hands, feeling her soft skin, and then running a hand through her silky hair. "I'm the best at what I do. Stealing."_

_"Then if I've stolen stuff from you," said Inu, raising an eyebrow, "Does that make me better than you?" Her smile became playful._

_"Perhaps," replied Youko, smiling, "but I think that may be negated by the fact that I've successfully stolen from you as well. Maybe both of us should go thieving and see who can get more treasure."_

_The two broke into storms of laughter and he watched Inu turn to look at the moon._

_"Is it telling you omens again?" asked Youko as he snaked his arms around her waist and hugged her to him._

_"No, it's being a very sneaky moon," replied Inu, leaning against him and placing her hands over his, "The stars have clammed up as well."_

_"You're the only demon I know who can read both the stars and the moon," said Youko, turning Inu around so she was facing him, "Does that come from the blood that your mother gave you?"_

_"Yes," answered Inu, looking away, "she used to tell me stories about what the stars said to her." She circled her arms about the fox's torso and rested her head against his chest with a content sigh. "You know what I am, but you still accept me. You still love me." She raised her head to look into his eyes. "That is why I love you, Youko Kurama."_

_Inu raised herself up a bit, pressing her lips against Youko's in a gentle kiss and the two stayed like that as the wind blew around them. The image suddenly shattered and the pieces flew away in a whirlwind of color. A new set of images whipped into view, showing a different area with several people of Reikai surrounding Inu as Youko watched from behind a tree. Two horned demons were holding Inu back as a woman with dark brown hair that contained a strange white streak stood before her, reading off a piece of paper. She was dressed in red and white priestess garb and in her free hand she held a metal staff that was topped with an ornate decoration Youko didn't recognize._

_"You stand accused of trying to tear open portals to Ningenkai and Reikai," said the woman, "the method you were using would've severely damaged if not destroyed both worlds as well as Makai." She lowered the paper and cooly gazed at the demon with her bright green eyes. "I hope you realize that this is a very serious crime and the punishment is death."_

_"I didn't do it!" exclaimed Inu, looking horrified, "Why would I want to do that? I'm perfectly happy here!"_

_"That's not what the witness told us," said the woman, "he came forward and explained everything in such perfect detail that it we had to believe it."_

_"So Reikai is really run by idiots," said Inu, glaring at her, "Who accused me of such a horrible crime?"_

_The woman ignored her question and read from the paper again. "Your attempt caused the death of many humans who were in the area where the portal almost opened. Not to mention the deaths of many demons and Reikai employees who tried to stop you."_

_"W... What?" said Inu, staring at the priestess, "I didn't kill anyone!" She seemed to suddenly realize what the woman was talking about and she grew angry. "Oh, no. That wasn't my fault! All I did was stabilize that portal and try to close it! I didn't open it! It was-"_

_"None the less, you've been found guilty of the crime," said the woman loudly, interrupting her, "King Enma has declared that you be sentenced to death."_

_"What?" exclaimed Inu, staring at the woman, "You've got to be kidding me!" She felt herself rise off the ground. "No! Wait!" A burst of energy blew the demons back from her and she landed back on the ground on her feet. "I can show you what ha-"_

_Inu broke off in a scream as something metal slashed across and then down her back. Seconds later, the same object stabbed her in the center of the mark that had been made on her back. The wolf demon coughed up blood and looked down to see the sharp point of the woman's staff poking through her chest between the top of her breasts. It had barely missed her heart, but this was remedied when the weapon was jerked out of her torso, causing her to fall backwards to the ground. Inu continued to try to breath for several minutes, but soon her eyes went blank and her body went limp as she lay in a pool of her own blood._

_"I was hoping to make your death quick and painless," said the woman, wiping blood off the sharp end of her staff, "But you chose to fight."_

_Youko was frozen with disbelief as he watched the events unfold, eyes wide with horror. He snapped out of this when the woman and demons vanished through a portal and came out from behind the tree, looking at the scene before him. They left Inu's body in the clearing, but had stayed long enough to perform some sort of last rites, position her body, and close her eyes. Now the wolf demon just looked like she was sleeping. Youko approached the body and knelt down, touching her face. In the cold night, the living warmth seemed to be quickly giving way to the chill of death. The fox was about to pick her up when he felt a surge of energy behind him that drove him away from the clearing. He didn't stop running until he reached the place he and Inu often met. Once he reached the top of their hill, Youko dropped to his knees, giving into his emotions, and let loose a yell full of rage and anguish._

Kurama woke up with a start, sitting bolt upright in his bed and panted as though he had been the one running. He had never had a dream like that before and yet, it felt more like a memory than a dream. There was a nudge in his mind that confirmed his suspicion, but nothing more was revealed. He became distracted when his ears picked up a faint barking that sounded like it was coming from downstairs. Curious, the fox got up and went down the stairs, glancing around for the source until his eyes settled on his front door. He walked over and gazed through the peek hole, spotting a familiar form.

"Ah, you're Shinzui's dog," murmured Kurama, unlocking and opening the door to let Kouken in, "You must have tracked her scent from the park."

The canine had greeted Kurama happily when he was let in, but was now sniffing around the room.

"She's upstairs," stated the redhead.

Kouken cocked his head at the boy and then trotted up the stairs with Kurama following after him. He sniffed around and discovered the room that Shinzui was sleeping in. The door was slightly ajar, so the dog just nosed his way in, causing it to open halfway. The redhead watched as the canine sniffed at the bed and then curled up on the floor nearby instead of disturbing the sleeping girl. Kurama was about to head back to bed when he noticed that a sliver of moonlight was peeking through the curtains and had fallen across Shinzui's rose. It had been closed when he had placed it in the vase, but now it was in full bloom as though it were soaking up the moonlight. He approached to examine when he heard Shinzui mumble something.

"You're... There..."

Kurama froze, worried that she might wake up. He knew that she wouldn't be able to tell it was him in the dark. However, the girl merely shifted on to her back and muttered again.

"I know...You are..." She turned her head the other way, muttering some more, but it was too garbled until one part. "Behind this mirror..."

Kurama was fascinated by these words and wondered what the girl was dreaming about. He stood there listening to the muddled words, waiting to hear more.

_For a while there had just been darkness with flashes of what had happened earlier in the day. Then suddenly, Shinzui had found herself in a massive room full of boxes and doors and the back was one giant mirror that looked like it had cracked once and been repaired. The girl recognized this room because she had visited it many times before. She walked up to the mirror and put her hands against it. The surface was unexpectedly warm and she could sense someone behind it. Someone that she felt she knew, but couldn't remember. It was a presence that had been around ever since she was little._

_"You're there," said the redhead, staring at her own reflection, "I know you are."_

_The mirror was silent, but there was an energy that resonated from behind it and Shinzui's palms tingled, which made her smile._

_"It's you," she said, closing her eyes and leaning her forehead against the mirror, "I know you. I feel as though you belong out here instead of behind this mirror."_

_The tingling energy had surrounded Shinzui now and she felt it flutter in her hands. However, when she opened her eyes, everything seemed to go cold as she saw that someone standing behind her. It was Tenma. She whirled around, praying she was just seeing things, but there he was. The girl backed up against the mirror, staring at him in terror. Tenma grabbed her by the arms and hauled her through an open door that lead to darkness. Shinzui kicked and screamed the entire way as the scene faded to black._

_The dark dissolved into a setting that Shinzui was very familiar with. It was an abandoned basement level bar and pool hall that Tenma had turned into his gang's hideout. The two were currently in the main room that had a fireplace, couple of pool tables, the bar, and a large alcove with some cushy chairs and couches. There were two doorways and three doors that lead outside of the room. The doorways lead to a hallway with bathrooms and a smaller, sunken room that contained more couches and a mattress. The doors lead back outside, to a small kitchen, and the last one was what Shinzui did not want to see. It was the door that lead to the closet he had locked her in many times after beating her and this was where the Tenma in her dreamscape was dragging her to._

Kurama had been about to leave when he noticed Shinzui was even more restless than before, shifting fitfully in the bed. Her once peaceful expression now one of fear.

_When Shinzui had realized that Tenma was taking her to the closet, she had begun to struggle and scream again. However, this made the boy turn and start hitting and kicking her. The redhead tried to defend herself, but it was no use. The dream was recreating the worst beating she had gotten from him and the girl knew what was coming next. Tenma was now straddled on top of her, holding her down with one of his massive hands around her wrists as he pinned them above her head. He was kissing her roughly and groping her with the other hand. When the boy tore at her clothing, Shinzui fought violently and slammed her knee into his groin. She wriggled away from him, kicking him again in the process, and tried to escape, but Tenma caught her and backhanded her hard in the face. She staggered, dropping to her knees._

_"Fine," he spat at her, "you tried to betray me, Akage. Himura's already paid the price for his involvement and I have to punish you somehow, but if you still have too much fire then perhaps I should use something to make you feel that heat."_

_As Tenma wandered over to the fireplace, which had a roaring fire going in it, Kageru and Akui were suddenly there and grabbed her arms, pulling her after their leader. Shinzui was soon pinned face down on the ground by the two boys with her arms stretched out. Yosamu and Reigen stepped up and ripped the back of her shirt open before moving back to hold down her legs. The redhead turned her head slightly and saw Tenma standing over her with a metal object in his hand. It was a branding iron and the end was almost glowing white from the heat it had absorbed in the fire. The boy smirked at her and spoke in a low voice._

_"I think it's time you were initiated into the gang, Akage. A reminder that you are _mine_."_

_Shinzui's eyes widened and she tried to struggle, but the other boys held her down as the taller boy approached. She screamed out in pain as Tenma pressed the white hot brand to the skin on her back near her neck and held it there for several minutes. Once finished, he tossed the brand aside and grabbed Shinzui by the arms, dragging her across the floor to the closet. Then he opened the door and threw her inside, slamming the door behind him. Shinzui curled up on the floor and cried, her back aching from where she had been burned. Everything was black again._

Outside the dream, Shinzui had curled up tightly under the covers and whimpered quietly, her body trembled. Her face was to Kurama, but the girl had been sleeping so fitfully that her hair was now strewn all over it and he couldn't see what her expression was. He knelt down beside the bed and brushed Shinzui's hair from her face, feeling a cold sweat on her forehead, but froze when he felt an odd sensation pass between them. She had looked like she was crying before, but now her face cleared and, as though she knew it was there, the girl reached out from the covers and grabbed his hand in a tight grip. Kurama sat there, unable to move. He didn't want to wake her up, but Shinzui didn't seem like she was going to let go, so he closed his fingers around her trembling hand. Her entire body, except her hand, relaxed and she stopped shaking. The moment Kurama had touched her, the dream had begun to change.

_Shinzui had been sitting in the darkness when a ripple of warmth went through the air around her and she looked up. There was a faint light shining from the back of the closet. She immediately moved toward it, expecting to meet a plain wall, but discovered a large, white doorway that shimmered like water. She saw a hand reaching out from the weird void and, without thinking, grabbed hold of it. Quite suddenly, the world tilted and she felt like she had been jerked through the opening even though the hand hadn't pulled on her. It was the doorway that moved. The setting changed to a very familiar, empty graveyard. The redhead glanced down at herself, expecting the results of her beating, and was surprised to see her body was clothed in a long, light blue sundress, but what really confused her was the sudden lack of shoes._

_"My dream took my shoes," said Shinzui, staring at her bare feet, "why did my dream take my shoes...and what the hell just happened?"_

_As Shinzui tried to figure out the situation something wet hit her face and she looked up, distracted. It was raining. At first this confused her, but then it dawned on her._

_"Wait...I...I remember this place..." she murmured, glancing around, "From when I was seven...Where is...Ah!"_

_Huddled in front of a large gravestone topped with a statue of a beautiful angel was a small girl with her red hair in pigtail braids. Shinzui winced when she noticed that one of the pigtails had been cruelly chopped short. The child was crying with her face against her knees, but she looked up when she heard the laughter of school children. Shinzui noticed immediately that only her left cheek had a scar while the right one was bare._

_"I had forgotten I only had one back then," murmured Shinzui as she watched her younger self, "I think I remember dad telling me that I was born with it, but..." She paused, touching her right cheek. "How did I get this one?"_

_This question was not to be answered because Shinzui felt a mental tug from somewhere and she was directed to the iron fence where she saw that one of the children had stopped. It was a boy who appeared to be a bit older than her younger self. He had short red hair that was much lighter than her own and his green eyes were fixed on the girl in the graveyard, who had also noticed him. Shinzui stared hard at this boy because he looked very familiar. He seemed to be considering something, but one of his friends called to him and he took one last look at the little Shinzui before running off. The little girl sniffed and put her head back down, starting to cry again. Shinzui sat down next to her younger self, wanting to comfort her, but found she couldn't interact with the child._

_"Can't alter a memory," sighed Shinzui, assuming the same position as the girl, except she rested her chin on her knees, "though I seem to be lucid now. I think my mind dressed me the same way the last time I had a lucid dream." She sighed. "I wonder why my dream has turned to this memory. It must be important somehow."_

_Hours seemed to pass and the two girls just sat there, one sniffling and the other deep in thought. It had stopped raining, but the distant sounds of rumbling thunder indicated that another storm was coming. Shinzui spied the redhead who had paused earlier, walking by on his way home from school. He caught sight of the child Shinzui and looked startled to see her still there. To her astonishment, the little boy glanced around for a gate and when he didn't find one on his side, he climbed over the fence. His landing was amazingly quiet and graceful for a kid and he approached her carefully._

_"Are you okay?" he asked._

_The voice startled the little girl and she seemed afraid of him because she pressed herself against the stone, trying to make herself as small as possible._

_"I'm not going to hurt you," said the boy._

_Shinzui saw his eyes move to the cut hair and then back to the girl._

_"Did a bully do this?"_

_Little Shinzui stared up at him for a moment before looking away, whispering. "No...My dad."_

_"Your _dad_ cut your hair?" inquired the boy with disbelief in his voice._

_"He didn't want me to have long hair anymore," explained the girl quietly, lifting her head up more. Her eyes moved to gaze at the boy._

_Now both the boy and Shinzui could see a bruise on the lower part of her cheek spreading down under her jaw._

_"Did that come from him, too?" asked the boy, his body tense._

_Shinzui could tell that the boy was trying to stay calm, but his eyes and tone told her that he was upset. She found it interesting that he was acting quite mature for someone his age._

_The little girl quickly put a hand to the bruise, looking away again. "I wanted to keep my hair like mom's was. He got mad when I refused...So he took some scissors and tried to do it himself." She paused, cringing at the memory. "I kicked him in the leg after he cut my braid."_

_"You kicked him?" repeated the boy, blinking in amazement._

_"That's when he hit me," muttered little Shinzui, putting her chin on her knees, "So I kicked him in the other leg and ran away..." She sniffed. "but couldn't remember how to get to where Yume works, so I just came here."_

_"Why here?" inquired the boy, looking curious._

_Little Shinzui moved so the boy could see the name on the small monument and replied in a quiet voice, touching the stone._

_"This is where my mom is..."_

_"Oh..." said the boy, looking sympathetic, "I'm sorry..." He seemed to be searching for something to say and then finally spoke. "I'm Shuuichi Minamino. What's your name?"_

_Shinzui's jaw dropped when she heard this._

_"Shuuichi?" she exclaimed incredulously, "I've met him before? Why didn't I remember that?" She tilted her head a bit. "Well, he does look very different as an adult...maybe that's why."_

_"Shinzui Ookami," replied the little girl, "but most people call me Shin."_

_"Why Shin?" inquired the boy._

_"Isn't obvious?" said little Shinzui, looking at him, "It's because I kick people in the shins." Her tone was one of complete seriousness._

_"Really?" asked Shuuichi, blinking in surprise._

_Shinzui remembered this joke and snickered just as her younger self started to laugh and reply._

_"No." She chuckled even more. "it's because Shin is shorter."_

_"Oh," murmured the boy, flushing a bit in embarrassment._

_This just made little Shinzui giggle even more. The two chatted for some time before Shuuichi offered to help her find the place she was looking for. After questioning several people on directions, the children finally found the right street. As they were walking down the street toward their destination, the little girl turned to her new friend and asked:_

_"Can I call you Shuu?"_

_"Sure," answered the boy with a shrug, "you're letting me call you Shin."_

_"Great!" said little Shinzui, clapping her hands together with a grin._

_The two went on until they reached a gate that led to a small hospital. This is where the young Shinzui bid her friend goodbye with a handshake before racing off to the door._

"Shuu..." murmured the sleeping girl.

Kurama was startled out of his thoughts by this word and he stared at the girl. The name sounded strangely familiar to him. Earlier, he had felt Shinzui's hand clench tighter after a few minutes, but now it completely relaxed, releasing his hand from her grip. Her face was completely peaceful and there were traces of a smile on her lips. The boy got to his feet and the rose caught his eye again.

_This certainly is a strange flower, _he thought, staring at it,_ It behaves differently than normal roses do. It doesn't feel normal either._

The fox reached out to touch the petals, but a sudden growl from beside him made him stop and take a step back. He thought it had been Kouken, but the dog was sound asleep and Kurama realized that it was Shinzui who had made the noise, yet she had not woken up. The boy found this rather odd because she hadn't growled at him when he had removed the rose from the pajama shirt pocket to put it in the vase. He shrugged a little and then left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He yawned as he returned to his room, got back into bed, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, Kurama was up early as usual and after a shower with a quick bandage change, he started working on breakfast. As he was cooking at the stove, the boy felt a nudge against his leg and looked down to see Kouken staring up at him with wide, begging eyes. The redhead chuckled and rifled through his refrigerator, finding some left over beef and rice that the dog could have. He filled a bowl with the food and another with water before setting them down in an out of the way spot. Kouken ate the food rather quickly and lapped up some water before bothering him again. This time he wanted to be let out. The boy did so and the dog wasted no time in finding a spot to do his business, bounding back inside once he was finished.

"I'll have to clean that up later," murmured Kurama, shutting the door and returning to the stove.

Kouken barked and disappeared back to Shinzui's room as Kurama finished cooking the food on the stove. He had just turned off the stove and transferred some of the eggs and bacon to a plate when there was a thud upstairs. He frowned in concern and walked toward the stairs only to be knocked over when someone collided with him. Kurama propped himself up on his elbows and looked at who was on top of him. It was Shinzui. Her appearance was rather comical because her blankets were draped around her and she had obviously dragged them with her.

"Sorry," said Shinzui, laughing a bit in embarrassment as she got off of him, "I could smell bacon." She brushed back some tangled hair and tugged at the blankets. "I kind of got stuck in the blankets."

"It looks like that didn't stop you," commented Kurama, chuckling as he shifted to a sitting position.

Shinzui shrugged. "I'm a hungry, bacon addict. I'm attracted to the smell and obstacles such as these will not stop me." She tried to disentangle herself again, but it was in vain. She sat there with a pouty, frustrated look on her face.

"Would you like some help?" asked the boy, chuckling again.

"Yes, please," said Shinzui, sighing with exasperation, "If they don't come off I'll have to wear them as a toga forever."

With Kurama's help, the girl was soon freed from the mess of blankets and he then helped her to her feet. Shinzui stretched, wincing a bit from her body's soreness, and the boy led her over to the table near the kitchen.

"Thank you," said the girl, smiling, "Do you want some help?"

"It's okay," replied Kurama, pulling back a chair at the table, "I've already finished the cooking." He gestured for Shinzui to take a seat. "I made enough to share."

Shinzui sat down in the chair and Kouken immediately trotted over to put his head in her lap. "I see Kouken found me." She chuckled and stroked the dog's fur, scratching behind his ears. "When did he get here?"

"Last night," answered Kurama, making up a plate of food for Shinzui, "I woke up and heard him barking at the door."

"He didn't wake you did he?" inquired Shinzui, looking apologetic.

Kurama paused, thinking about how to respond. "No." He hesitated slightly. "Something else woke me up." He got out some glasses. "What would you like to drink?"

"Water, please," answered Shinzui, frowning slightly at him, "what woke you up?"

Kurama poured water in one glass and orange juice in another. "Just a..." He searched for the right word. "A strange dream." He set the water glass in front of Shinzui and placed the other at the seat across.

"Was it bad?" asked the girl, raising an eyebrow at this second hesitation.

"It was pleasant at first," replied Kurama, putting the plates on the table with silverware and napkins, "but then it changed."

The boy sat down in the seat across from Shinzui and glanced at her to find that she was studying him closely as though considering something. However, Shinzui chose to not push the subject, deciding to ask something else, but it was Kurama who spoke first.

"How was your sleep?"

"Oh, I slept like a rock," said Shinzui, shaking some salt and pepper on to her eggs, "though I had some pretty strange dreams myself, but that's nothing new. My brain likes to be creative with dreamscapes." She munched on a piece of bacon, smiling. "Oh, this is good bacon."

"How so?" inquired Kurama before taking a bite of eggs.

Shinzui shrugged. "Just some weird stuff, but most of what I dreamt about were memories." She started to eat the eggs.

"Memories?" repeated the boy, interested, "What kind?"

The girl had been about to eat another forkful of eggs, but she set the utensil down on her plate and fixed Kurama with a steady gaze. "Have you ever felt like we've met before?"

This question startled Kurama and he stared at her. "Yes, though I'm not sure why."

"I think I know why," stated Shinzui, biting her lip slightly. "Do you remember meeting a little girl in a cemetery?"

Kurama blinked, but her question brought to mind the name Shinzui had muttered before he had left her room. He frowned, thinking hard. "Vaguely...I'm not sure."

"She had pigtail braids and one was cut short," said Shinzui, hoping the description might ring a bell with the boy, "She had a nickname. Shin. She might have called you, Shuu."

Something in Kurama's memory clicked and the image of a little girl huddled at a gravestone came to him. "Yes, I was in elementary school. I had seen her sitting there in the rain on my way to school. She looked like she was crying, but I couldn't miss school, so I didn't do anything. She was still there afterwards..." He frowned slightly, looking at the female in front of him as his mind ran through the memory. "Wait..." He suddenly blinked as his eyes widened. "You...You were that girl?"

Shinzui grinned and nodded. "That was me. I was Shin."

"Right," said Kurama as more memories surfaced, "you called me, Shuu. We often met there to talk."

"I even showed you my abilities with plants," stated the redhead, smiling even more, "you were the only kid that didn't shun me after learning about it."

Kurama sat back and nodded. "Yes, but a few months after we met...You moved."

"Yeah, Dad moved us to Germany for a few years," sighed the girl, shaking her head, "He surprised me with that. We came back when I was eleven and I got put in middle school."

"So, you were Shin," murmured Kurama, frowning slightly, "I wrote you so many letters...Even after you suddenly stopped..." He gave her a questioning look.

Shinzui looked away with a sad expression. "Dad didn't realize I was writing letters to someone in Japan for those first two years. When he did find out... He stopped me." She frowned. "He really overreacted, too. It seemed like he didn't want anyone to know where we were. I wasn't even allowed to go to Japan to visit the Chikaras though he did let them visit us." She glanced at him and suddenly smiled shyly. "I still have your letters. I managed to send a few after dad found out, but most of my responses are in a journal I kept."

"I also kept the letters you sent me," said the boy, smiling as well, "I continued to write in hopes that you'd start responding again."

"I tried," sighed Shinzui, "I really tried. Like I said, I got a few through after the initial fight, but then dad started bribing the post office to return the letters to our house." She frowned, obviously thinking about something. "He went through a lot of trouble to do that. It was weird because he usually wasn't so considerate of my feelings. Even after all his efforts, I did manage to get some more letters through by mailing them when we traveled." She shrugged a bit and smiled again, looking at the boy, "I'm glad you still wrote to me. It made me feel less alone."

"How come we haven't met since then?" inquired Kurama.

"I have no idea," replied the girl, shrugging again, "I think I tried to find you, but after a few months..." She stopped and frowned. Then she ran a hand through her hair and gave a frustrated sigh. "Dammit. I still can't remember much from those years." She picked up her fork and stabbed at her eggs a bit before eating some, looking quite unhappy.

"What years?" asked Kurama, raising an eyebrow. He bit off a piece of bacon and watched the girl closely.

Kurama was startled to have his question answered by a glare similar to the one Shinzui had given him when he had asked her about the incident that had led to her being branded by Tenma. What made it different was the fact that she broke off eye contact after a few moments and seemed more uncomfortable than angry, but her words were the same.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Then let's talk about something else," said Kurama calmly, understanding how to handle the situation, "What was Germany like?"

This was a happier subject for Shinzui to talk about and as they finished their breakfast, she described all the things she had seen and done. Even though she had been cut off from her friends in Japan, the girl had thrived in Germany and she still wrote to a few people she had made friends with there. Their conversation shifted to other countries in Europe and continued through the clean up, which Shinzui insisted on helping with. The discussion only stopped when the girl's eyes drifted to the clock and she exclaimed:

"Oh crap! School!"

Shinzui stood up, looking frantic, but Kurama quickly put a firm hand on her uninjured shoulder and made her sit.

"Calm down," he said, "I called Yume last night while you were in the shower. She scolded us at first, but she said she'd call your school in the morning and tell them that you'd be out for a few days to recover from an illness."

"Oh..." said Shinzui, relaxing in the chair, "but what about you? Don't you have classes?"

"I only have two classes on Mondays," replied Kurama, removing his hand from her shoulder, "The first one isn't until ten and the second one is right after it, so I'll only be gone for a few hours."

Shinzui covered her hand as she yawned. "Ah...Sorry. I guess I'm still tired." She shook her head a bit. "I think hunger is the only reason I woke up this early."

"That's all right," said Kurama with a chuckle, "you're still recovering from using that energy."

Even though Shinzui insisted that she could get up the stairs just fine, in the end Kurama persuaded her to let him assist her. He gathered the blankets they had left at the bottom of the stairs and they started up. As they ascended the staircase, a question popped into the girl's mind and she voiced it.

"What are you studying anyway?"

"Since it's my first year, I've been taking a variety of classes," answered Kurama, "but Biology is my favorite, so I'll probably focus on that." He glanced at her. "You're going to graduate soon. Do you have any plans?"

"Oh, I've thought about it a lot," replied Shinzui, tapping her chin, "All I know is the university I go to must have a drama club and either art classes or an art club."

"Why don't you just study drama or art?" inquired Kurama as they reached the landing.

"They're just hobbies," laughed Shinzui, shaking her head, "I'd rather get a degree in something practical. Besides, I've done my research, the programs for drama and art are really intense and I wouldn't get along with them."

The two turned the corner and walked toward the room Shinzui was staying in.

"What do you think you'd focus on then?" asked the boy as they reached the room.

"I was thinking elementary education," replied the girl, pushing the door open, "I like little kids and they tend to listen to me when I talk to them."

Shinzui helped Kurama spread the blankets on the bed before sitting on it. Kouken immediately hopped up on the bed and laid down with his head in her lap. She smiled gently as she stroked the dog's fur and spoke again.

"I'd love to make a difference in a child's life just like Mrs. Mikata." She sighed as though remembering something happy. "No matter how much trouble someone was, she always found a way to help them. She's been my hero since I was a kid."

The two chatted about school for a bit longer until Shinzui pointed out that it was almost nine-thirty. Kurama helped her settle before leaving the room, but he paused near his door when the girl's voice drifted to his ears from the room.

"Shuuichi's a nice guy, don't you think, Kouken?"

Kurama heard the dog bark in reply and Shinzui laugh.

"Hey, you like him, too. You've never been very friendly with strangers and yet you bounded over to greet him when he came to the dojo."

This statement earned a snort followed by another bark.

"Yeah, small world indeed," said Shinzui with a sigh. "He seems a bit different from back then, but he hasn't changed that much." She chuckled. "I'm glad."

During this exchange, Kurama had felt the girl's aura flicker strangely, which made him wonder if she was truly communicating with the dog. He shook his head and retrieved his backpack from his room before he left for school.

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Yeah, Shin-chan talks in her sleep. XD

Originally, I was going to remove the dream part of this chapter, but then I realized that there's actually some important hints in the dreams that apply to both this story and the next one. Besides, this is a fanfic based off of a manga and anime. They do that all the frakkin' time. XD


	7. Correlational Theories

Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakusho characters and world stuff belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. All original characters and stuff belong to me.

Author's Notes: This chapter is a mix of the original chapter and new material. In the past few chapters, I've deleted several bits of humorous dialogue that I really enjoyed, but I got the chance to create new ones in this chapter. Enjoy! =D

# # # # # # # # # # #

Kurama returned to the house after his classes and went to check on Shinzui only to find her sound asleep with the blankets kicked on the floor. From the look of two braids in her hair and her clumsily bandaged arm and hand, the girl had decided to take a shower while he was gone. Seeing her hair in that style made more memories from his childhood surface and he smiled, remembering her attempts to teach him German over their letters. This made him think of the final letter he had gotten from her. It was completely in German and he had never been able to translate it back then.

The redhead carefully picked up the blankets and placed them over Shinzui, who shifted a bit in response to their weight. He reached out, brushing some of her long bangs out of her face, and his hand lingered a bit as he felt the same strange sensation as before when his fingers touched her forehead. Then he caught sight of Kouken, who was on the bed this time and had his head rested on Shinzui's ankles with his eyes fixed on the boy. The dog's stare startled Kurama and he quickly left the room. When he glanced back, Kouken seemed to have a smug expression on his face. A smug dog is an odd sight.

_That dog seems uncannily human sometimes,_ thought Kurama as he entered his own room, shutting the door behind him. His eyes fell on a box that was sitting on his bookshelf. _It's certainly been a while since I looked at these._

Kurama picked up the box and set it on his desk, opening the lid to reveal a large collection of letters. He started picking through them, reading the contents of each letter. However, his reminiscing was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell from downstairs. Kurama closed the box and went to answer the door. It was Yusuke and Kuwabara, but to the redhead's surprise, another familiar face followed them in. It was a girl with long, sky blue hair pulled back in a high ponytail and her deep pink eyes glanced around the room as though looking for something.

"Botan," said Kurama, staring at the girl, "What are you doing here?"

The redhead moved to one side, allowing the three to come in the house and he closed the door behind them.

"KoEnma heard about the bat demon incident," replied the girl, "it's really who the demon served that he's interested in. We've been looking for Koumori for over twelve years."

"Twelve years?" repeated Yusuke, looking at her, "You didn't mention that."

"That's a long time," remarked Kuwabara, equally surprised, "Why are you looking for him?"

"Well, finding him is more about restitution for a mistake that KoEnma believes his father made," replied Botan, biting her lip, "Koumori was used as a witness for a major crime seventeen years ago and a female demon was executed for it. However, KoEnma thinks Koumori lied to the investigators and he might've been responsible for the crime not the other demon. The other demon might have also been the one who was responsible for stabilizing the situation and keeping things from going haywire."

"Why was the other demon suspected?" inquired Kurama, raising an eyebrow as he thought, _That scenario sounds vaguely familiar._

"The incident involved things that the female demon was skilled in," replied Botan, "but now we know that Koumori had similar abilities."

"Who was the demon that got executed?" asked Yusuke, sitting down in a cushy chair.

"Her name was Inu Kodoku," replied Botan, pulling out a file from her bag as she sat on the couch, "she was a mixed breed demon of three bloodlines." She flipped through some papers. "Though the only bloodlines we're aware of were wolf and fox. We have no idea what the third was, but the rumor was that it wasn't demon."

Kurama froze and stared at Botan. "Could you repeat that name?"

"Inu Kodoku," said the girl, looking at him, "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Kurama was silent for a moment and then sank into the other cushy chair before he spoke. "Inu Kodoku was the person in my dream last night and yet...I don't think it was just a dream. I think it was a memory, but it's never surfaced before."

"That's no surprise," said Botan, shrugging, "Youko and Inu were quite involved with each other." She gazed at Kurama. "What's interesting is that nothing has triggered the memory before. I wonder what did it." She waved her hand a bit. "We can investigate that later. I want to talk to the girl. I find it strange that Koumori would be so interested in a human. He doesn't like them."

"She's asleep right now," stated Kurama, still in a bit of shock from the connections.

"Darn it," sighed Botan, looking disappointed, "I really wanted to talk to her. Yusuke told me that she had never used raw spirit energy outside of plant manipulation before, but the attacks, especially the second one, he described to me sounded like something that a high level user would be able to produce. It's quite odd for an amateur to be able to use it."

"I don't think she's an amateur," stated a voice from behind them.

The group turned to see Hiei standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Why do you say that?" asked Botan, frowning, "Didn't she tell you guys that she hadn't used it like that before?"

"I think there's something helping her," replied Hiei, leaning against the wall, "I sensed strange disruptions in her aura when she got angry, which probably had to do with her spirit energy, but there was a fluctuation in her _human_ aura when she actually used the raw energy."

"How odd," said Botan, looking even more curious, "Maybe that's why Koumori is interested in her." She tapped her chin with a thoughtful expression. "Like I said before, he's not particularly fond of humans no matter how they look, so there must be something about her energy that he likes."

"So this bat demon is _here_?" asked Kuwabara, raising an eyebrow.

"KoEnma isn't sure if he's really _in_ Ningenkai," answered Botan, "but it seems that at least has servants here and might even have access to a portal of some sort."

"Great," sighed Yusuke, shaking his head, "How are we supposed to find him if we don't know where he is?"

Botan merely shrugged and the conversation continued bouncing between the topics of Koumori and Shinzui's abilities. Every now and then, Kurama could have sworn he heard something scratching at a window, but he never saw anything. However, the redhead did notice that Hiei seemed a bit on edge because his eyes were narrowed and he was watching the windows. During a lull in the discussion, the group picked up a growling noise from upstairs.

"That sounds like a dog's growl," stated Botan, frowning.

All at once, a series of sounds came from the guest room Shinzui was in. It started with Kouken's barking and snarling, which was quickly followed by a loud crash and yell from the girl.

"BAT!"

This word caught everyone's attention and they all stood up, starting for the stairs. As they got to the top there were sounds of a scuffle that ended in a loud crack as something broke. Then there was a flash of silver light and the attacker let out a loud, piercing screech that made everyone cover their ears. Within the room, a door slammed shut and there were more mingled sounds of snarling, hissing, and barking. There was another screech and a thud that was followed by a dog's yelp as the group reached the door. They heard the sound of wood breaking and a shriek just as they got the door open. The scene before them was pure chaos.

The room was littered with broken glass and wood from the window along with pieces of wood that used to be a chair. From the looks of the bat demon, who was clawing at a fist sized hole in a closet door, Shinzui had broken the chair over its head and blasted it with some energy. It had also been bitten and scratched numerous times by Kouken. The dog lay in a heap on the floor near the door, whimpering and bleeding from a few claw marks. However, Shinzui was no where in sight. The group wasn't sure where she was until they heard a shout from inside the closet where the demon had now made a hole large enough to fit his head and arm through.

"Go away!"

The creature hissed in frustration as there was some scuffling inside the closet. It had failed at grabbing the squirming female, who was trying desperately to keep out of its reach. It had been easier to fight the demon she had met last night because she couldn't see it very well, but in full light, its resemblance to a bat could not be ignored. Shinzui was now more interested in staying away from it and not looking at it instead of fighting. This became difficult when it made the hole in the door larger and finally managed to grab hold of the front of her pajama top. Shinzui let out a terrified scream.

In an instant, Yusuke and Kuwabara came forward and dragged the bat demon away from the closet door. Unfortunately, Shinzui was also pulled with it and she was resisting so much that instead of going through the hole, she smacked into the door. The demon lost its grip on the front of the top, but it got a new hold on her left arm. The two boys jerked the demon away and there was a yelp followed by a ripping noise as an empty sleeve came with it. The bat whirled on the boys and spread its wings, knocking them away as it got ready to attack the interfering humans. However, Hiei made quick work of the demon with his sword before it could make a move against them.

"Good job, Hiei," said Yusuke, giving him the thumbs up.

During the commotion, Kurama had gone over to the closet to check on Shinzui and the others soon joined him. The girl was huddled in the back corner of the closet, shaking, with her knees drawn to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Her left arm was bare and bleeding from a new set of long, shallow cuts and her face was buried against her knees. Kurama quietly opened the door and touched the girl gently on the arm, avoiding the injuries. Shinzui immediately jerked away with a slight whimper, pressing herself even further into the corner and those who could see her caught a glimpse of a fearful expression before she turned away. Hiei frowned, remembering the girl's behavior last time she saw a bat demon, but the terror seemed worse this time.

"It's just Shuuichi," said the fire demon flatly, "the bat's gone."

Shinzui flinched when she heard the word, 'bat.', but she moved her head to look at them as though just realizing they were there. When she spoke, her voice was just as shaky as her body.

"That...That _thing_ is gone?"

"Yes," said Kurama, understanding the meaning of Hiei's statement, "It's gone. You're safe."

"Are you afraid of bats?" asked Kuwabara.

Shinzui flinched again when she heard the animal's name and stuck to the corner.

"Thank you, Mr. Tact," snorted Hiei, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up!" shouted the boy, glaring at the fire demon.

The two were about to start a fight when a Shinzui's quiet answer got their attention.

"Yes," She bit her lip slightly. "I've had a phobia since I was a kid. I don't really remember what started it, but I remember the nightmares."

"Why weren't you freaking out like this last night?" inquired Yusuke.

"It was hard to see it last night," replied the girl, shrugging, "besides, that thing only resembles one. Logic dictates that I should be more afraid of a _demon_ that looks like one, but I'm not. It seems only the animal can send me into complete hysterics."

"This isn't hysterics?" said Hiei, raising an eyebrow.

Shinzui sighed and shook her head. "I can't even speak when I'm in hysterics and it takes hours for me to calm down."

A mess of bloody fur shoved itself between Shinzui and Kurama to flop in her lap.

"Kouken!" exclaimed the girl with a horrified expression, "Are you okay?"

The dog let out a whine and nuzzled her hand, indicating that he wanted pats. Shinzui obliged and stroked the dog's head. Once again, there was a strange flicker in her aura as she stared into Kouken's eyes. The redhead sighed.

"Shallow injuries are easy to fix."

"You seem quite popular with those demons," remarked Botan as she suddenly appeared behind Kurama, gazing in at the girl.

"Gah!" exclaimed Shinzui, pressing her back against the wall. She was wary of this new face.

"Don't worry," laughed Botan, waving a hand, "I'm a friend."

"She is?" inquired Shinzui, glancing at the boys.

All four of them nodded in answer to her questioning eyes. Kurama moved so the new girl could come forward and greet Shinzui properly.

"I'm Botan," said the ferry girl cheerfully, smiling.

"Shinzui Ookami," stated the redhead, "I guess I can trust you if you're a friend of theirs." Her expression melted to a friendly smile.

Botan held out a hand and the girl lifted her own to shake it when Kouken blocked it, growling at her with his teeth bared. The blue haired girl leapt back when he snapped warningly at her fingers and Shinzui quickly tried to calm him down, but it was in vain. Botan retreated even more when the dog took a step forward, his growl turning into a vicious snarl and his hackles rose. When the redhead saw his eyes narrow and his body tense as though ready to pounce, she scrambled to her feet and put herself between the group and the angry dog. She dropped to her knees and spoke firmly to him.

"Kouken!"

The canine ignored her and tried to move around the girl to get at Botan, but Shinzui caught hold of him.

"Shhhh," murmured the girl, gently stroking the dog's fur, "Calm down, boy." She caressed the fur of his head, rubbing behind his ears. "She means no harm."

Everyone, except Hiei, became a bit nervous when Shinzui touched her forehead to the forehead of the still snarling dog, but he made no aggressive move against her as she spoke in a soothing tone:

"Bitte beruhigen."

To the group's utter amazement, Kouken's snarling began to diminish to a low growl as the girl closed her eyes and continued to murmur calming words in a different language. She was gently holding the sides of his head with her hands and the entire group felt a strange flutter in the girl's aura. The dog finally relaxed and whined at the girl, licking her face and rubbing his face on it. Shinzui responded in a similar fashion, brushing her cheek against Kouken's as she continued to whisper to him. He settled down and put his head in her lap with a sigh, but he did let out a low growl when Botan moved toward Shinzui. The ferry girl immediately ducked behind the boys again and the redhead looked at her with an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry, Botan," sighed Shinzui with a slight shrug, "he's really protective of me." She frowned at the dog. "I've never seen him react so strongly to a female and typically he only gets this bad if he thinks the person is a threat to me. Though I don't see how such behavior applies to _this_ situation." This last comment seemed to be directed at the dog rather than the ferry girl.

"Tha...That's okay," stammered Botan, peeking out from behind Yusuke.

"I can see if he'll at least tolerate you," suggested Shinzui, glancing at Kouken, "I can't force him to like you, but I might be able to persuade him to leave you alone."

"Uh... Sure," said the girl, blinking in curiosity and wondering how Shinzui would accomplish this.

Shinzui placed a hand on Kouken's head and the two made eye contact. She spoke in the same unfamiliar language and the dog snorted at her with an obstinate and slightly irritated look.

"You stubborn, little fluffball," said Shinzui, rolling her eyes, "I'm not asking you to do much."

After a few more words of the different language, Kouken finally seemed to accept whatever she was saying to him and glanced at Botan. When the girl stepped out from behind the boys, the canine merely gave her a look of dislike, but didn't growl. During these exchanges, Shinzui's aura had flickered strangely again.

"Looks like whatever you did worked," said Botan, breathing a sigh of relief, "What language was that?"

"German," replied Shinzui with a grin, "I think I accidentally conditioned him to listen better when I use German instead of Japanese."

"How'd that happen?" inquired Yusuke, raising an eyebrow.

"I lived in Germany for about four years or so," said the girl, shrugging, "My father insisted that we only speak German." She rolled her eyes. "Something about blending in." She looked at the dog. "Hmm...You need a bath, Kouken."

The dog barked in agreement and Shinzui got to her feet with shaky legs which gave out after a few steps.

"Dammit," sighed the girl, looking annoyed, "I shouldn't have tried out the energy thing."

"You managed to get it to work again?" asked Kuwabara.

"Yeah, barely," replied Shinzui, looking at her hand, "all it really did was startle the thing rather than cause damage. I was still tired from last night, so I guess using more raw energy made things worse." She shrugged. "but, Kouken needs washing and I'm the only one he'll behave for."

"How can you wash him when you can barely stand?" inquired Yusuke.

The boy snickered when he saw the girl's irritated pout and that made her glare at him.

"Fine, you try to get him into the bathroom," suggested the girl with a smirk, "it'll be entertaining."

As Yusuke and Kuwabara tried to coax the dog into the bathroom, Kouken just tilted his head and stared at them. They moved toward him and Shinzui interrupted.

"I suggest you don't try to drag or carry him right now. In his agitated state he might bite you."

When the two still weren't successful, Kurama helped Shinzui to the bathroom and Kouken followed obediently. Once in the bathroom, she sat stubbornly in the middle of the floor in front of the bathtub with her arms crossed. The dog sat next to her and seemed to stare at the boys with a challenging look in his eyes. Hiei smirked slightly as he watched Yusuke and Kuwabara try in vain to get her to move and then Kurama attempted to reason with her.

"She's as stubborn as the buffoon." It almost sounded like a chuckle when he spoke.

Shinzui seemed fed up with the boys and sighed. "Fine." She snickered. "but I doubt you'll even get Kouken in the tub." She grinned mischievously as she scooted to one side so the three boys could make their attempts at giving the dog a bath.

The boys soon found out that Kouken was far more than a small challenge. He dashed out of the bathroom when Kurama tried to get him into the tub and it was nearly half an hour before they found him. He turned up under Kurama's bed, which was odd since the door was closed. The dog charged out of the room when discovered, barely evading the group's efforts to catch him. When they did get their hands on him, he refused to stay in the tub, slipping through their arms to run around the house, barking jovially as if this were all a game to him. While chaos ensued, Kurama, who had decided to let Yusuke and Kuwabara deal with the dog, carefully cleaned and bandaged the new injuries on Shinzui's arm.

"This dog's annoyingly smart," huffed Yusuke as he hauled the dog into bathtub for the sixth time. "Please stay in the water this time."

Kouken barked loudly and wriggled out of the boy's grip, bowling over Kurama as he leapt out of the tub, and knocked an unsuspecting Hiei into the soapy water as he left. Yusuke and Kuwabara took off after the canine.

"I hate that hound," growled the fire demon, climbing out of the tub.

"Ready to give up yet?" asked Shinzui, smiling as she watched the antics.

"Just let her do it," said Botan, rolling her eyes as the chaos continued.

"All right," sighed Kurama in resignation and he went to the stairs to call to the two boys. "Yusuke. Kuwabara. Stop chasing the dog before-"

The words came too late as the boys toppled over the couch with a crash when Kouken suddenly leapt over it. Both groaned as they got back on their feet. Kurama went back to the bathroom and nodded at Shinzui.

The girl put her fingers to her lips and whistled loudly, calling out in a singsong voice. "Kouken! Zeit sich sauber!"

"What'd you say?" asked Botan, blinking at her.

"I said time to clean," replied Shinzui, grinning, "I spoke in German so he knows the game is over."

"So he was playing a game?" laughed Botan, looking amused.

Shinzui nodded and both girls laughed again as Kouken bounded into the bathroom, knocking over Kurama and Hiei. He obediently leapt into the tub and sat down in the water.

"Did you tell him to do that?" growled Hiei, getting back to his feet with an irritated expression.

"Nah," sniggered Shinzui, "he did it because you were there." She moved over to the tub. "He plays that game whenever someone other than me tries to give him a bath. I'm impressed you all managed to get him in the tub so many times."

"So you're the _only_ one who can give him a bath?" huffed Kuwabara, appearing a the door.

"The Chikaras can bathe him, too," replied Shinzui, draining the water that was now dirty from all the struggle, "That's because he knows they're okay. He does play the game with them every now and then just for fun, but in the end he obeys. Sometimes I take him to the groomer, but I have to tell him keine Spiele, which means no games. That phrase means he has to let the other person do their job." She filled the tub halfway with clean water and started to pour it over the dog's fur.

"Doesn't he understand what a groomer is?" asked Yusuke, leaning on the doorway.

"He does," stated the girl, taking great care as she cleaned the shallow wounds on Kouken's skin, "Kouken seems to be more intelligent than the average dog. He just likes to be difficult if he can. Like I said before, it's really just a game for him."

"Exactly how smart is he?" inquired Botan, raising an eyebrow at Kouken.

"Sometimes it seems like his intelligence is almost human," answered Shinzui, shrugging, "Though I think some of the high intelligence breeds like Poodles and Border Collies could give him a run for his money, but I've never gotten to test it."

Botan seemed to be considering something. "How long have you had him?"

Shinzui paused as she picked up the soap and thought for a moment. "Hmm...Since I was a baby I guess. Yume said my mom found him as a pup a few months before I was born and took him in. He's been with me ever since and I think he'll be around for a while because his health hasn't declined at all in his old age."

The group watched as Shinzui cleaned Kouken's fur, humming a soothing melody, and he obediently did as he was told. After rinsing him off, Shinzui spoke another phrase to him.

"Alle sauber."

The dog barked and hopped out of the tub so Shinzui could use a big towel to dry his fur.

"What was that phrase?" asked Botan, curious.

"All clean," replied the girl with a smile. She was pleased that she got the chance to teach them some German.

Shinzui checked the gashes on Kouken and carefully bandaged them up once the dog's fur was completely dry. The canine barked and licked her face when she released him. The girl was ready to clean up the bathroom, but Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped her and had Kurama take her downstairs to the couch before she could protest. The fox replaced the wet wrappings on Shinzui's hand and arms and checked the new contusion on her forehead from the encounter with the second bat demon.

"Sorry about your pajamas," said Shinzui, glancing at her now bandaged, sleeveless arm, "honestly, those things have no respect for one's clothing."

"It's okay," chuckled Kurama, packing up the kit, "they're an old set and don't really fit me anymore. I was going to give them away."

Botan sat in the chair watching them with a smile on her face. "You two are certainly good friends."

Shinzui looked at her and took note of the familiar glimmer in Botan's eyes. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh, don't you dare start."

Kurama just looked away when he noticed Botan's grin and became very interested in the carpet. Both redheads couldn't hide the faint blush that crept into their cheeks, though Shinzui's was more prominent.

"Wow, mild embarrassment reaction from both of you," chuckled the blue haired girl, smiling even more. "That's interesting."

"What's interesting?" asked Kuwabara from the stairs.

"I heard the word embarrassment," said Yusuke and he caught sight of Shinzui and Kurama, "oh, I see." His grin was similar to Botan's.

Hiei rolled his eyes when he recognized those grins, having no interest in their schemes.

Shinzui glowered at him. "Don't make me show you how I can make a pillow a weapon."

"Pillows are too soft to be weapons," declared Yusuke, practically daring the girl.

Shinzui's lips curved into a devious smile. "They work for suffocation." She held up one of the small couch pillows. "All I have to do is pin you down with this over your mouth and nose for a time and you'd be out. Hold it even longer and you'd be dead."

Everyone stared at her.

"What?" said Shinzui, looking around at them with a shrug, "I went through a crime novel phase."

"So..." said Botan, deciding to change the subject, "What kind of dog is Kouken?"

"He's a wolf-dog," answered the girl with a smile, "well, I think he's more wolf than dog, but it'd take a blood test to be sure and those are expensive." She scratched the canine behind the ears. "My mom not only found him, but she also named him. According to dad, she gave him the name Kouken because she believed that he'd be my protector." She sighed. "and he has."

"Your mother is obviously a good judge of character," commented Botan brightly, "I'd like to meet her someday."

From the sudden pained look on Shinzui's face, the ferry girl realized that she had said something wrong.

"I suppose you could meet her," stated Shinzui in a quiet voice, her shoulders sagging slightly, "if you can talk to the dead."

Just like when her mother had come up in conversation before at the ramen stand, Shinzui's voice was shaky and her expression was sad. Kurama reached out and put a gentle hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. He wanted to say something, but the words refused to organize themselves. In the end, it was Botan who broke the silence because she couldn't keep back her curiosity.

"I'm so sorry...Um...When did she pass?"

"When I was born," murmured Shinzui after a few moments of silence. She clenched the fabric of her pants and continued talking, "Dad said she had a weak heart and it couldn't take the stress of childbirth." She glanced at Botan for a moment before closing her eyes with a small smile. "but you're right. She was a good judge of character. According to Yume, she excelled at figuring out the truth behind a person's behavior. Reading emotions was her specialty."

"If she was such a good judge of character, why'd she marry your father?" inquired Hiei, remembering the girl's fight with her father.

Shinzui's head snapped up and fixed an icy glare on him, but Hiei just met her eyes and stared back. She finally broke the eye contact, looking back at the floor, and answered.

"He used to be nice." She sighed. "From what I can remember, he wasn't around a lot until I was five and that was when things started to drastically change. We'd fight a lot and he would often leave me with Master Genkai and the Chikaras. Things got better when I was seven and he moved us to Germany."

"How was that any better?" asked Botan.

"He always seemed under pressure here," replied Shinzui, tapping her chin, looking thoughtful, "but in Germany he loosened up. Though he was uptight about contact with my friends in Japan." She shrugged. "I _still_ don't know why and for some reason we moved back when I was eleven. That's when he started to really use the service, too."

"The service?" repeated Botan, "What kind of service?"

"His minions," stated the girl, rolling her eyes, "He'd send them out each day after school to drag me home and he wouldn't even let me out of the house once night fell. After a few months of that nonsense, I started to sneak out a lot and..." She paused, frowning as she tried to remember.

"And?" said the blue haired girl, wanting to hear more.

"And..." started Shinzui, but she stopped and closed her eyes as she thought. _Oh no..._ She ran her hands through her hair with a frustrated growl. _Not now! Not here! Come back! C'mon you stupid memories! Don't disappear now!_ Her head was starting to ache from the effort of trying to pull the memories back.

"Are you all right?" asked Kurama, frowning in concern when he saw Shinzui's expression.

The girl suddenly slammed her fist on the coffee table, causing everyone, except Hiei, to jump in surprise, and angrily exclaimed:

"Dammit!" She rubbed her temples as she sat back with a groan. "It's still there."

"What's still there?" asked Yusuke, staring at the girl in surprise.

Shinzui glanced around at the group, looking uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" inquired Kuwabara.

Shinzui gave a sigh of resignation and put her hands in her lap, but she didn't make eye contact with them as she spoke. "A blank spot." Her eyes shifted to Kurama for a brief moment. "This is what I didn't want to talk about this morning, but I can't really hide it anymore."

"Blank spot?" repeated Botan, frowning slightly, "What do you mean?"

The girl took a deep, calming breath and let it out before launching into her explanation. "As I stated before, I was eleven when we moved back to Japan and my memories up through those first few months back are fine, but after that...My memories are mostly blank and they're like that up to a few months after I turned fifteen."

"Mostly?" repeated Yusuke, raising his eyebrow.

"I have snippets of normal life," replied Shinzui with a thoughtful expression, "like I remember all that crap with Tenma, things at school, the Chikaras, and life at home. I also have some stuff pieced together from what people have told me, but the memories are fragmented. It's like there are supposed to be things in between, but I always find nothing. The gaps in my memory are even bigger for the years after I turned twelve."

"Is it just white?" inquired Botan, watching her intensely, "Or do you feel pain every time you try to remember."

Shinzui looked at her, rather startled by the question. "Ah, it's mostly just...well...Blank. Nothing. I know something's there, but my mind can't hold on to it. If I concentrate on it for too long I get a headache." She sighed. "Dad has no explanation for me. He just avoids the subject and the Chikaras won't tell me anything either. I even asked Master Genkai and she refused to talk to me even though I _know_ something happened."

"How do you know that something happened?" asked Kuwabara.

"It's mostly just a feeling," answered Shinzui, "I've had some weird dreams and nightmares that feel like memories. The emotions in them are too real to be mere creations of the mind." She rested her chin in her hand with a frustrated sigh. "It's like some big secret."

Kouken snorted and nudged her leg.

"Don't you start either," growled the girl, looking annoyed.

"Okay, I've been meaning to ask this," said Yusuke, deciding to change the subject, "can you actually talk to your dog?"

Shinzui stared at him and then scratched the back of her head, looking embarrassed. "Well, kind of." She shrugged a little. "We just understand each other. When I was little I thought I heard a voice from him, but I think it's more that I just know what he would say." She laughed a little, her cheeks turning pink. "Sounds crazy, but I was so isolated when I was a kid that Kouken really was the only one I could talk to." The girl glanced at Kurama. "Until I met a new friend one day." She smiled.

Yusuke and Kuwabara looked between the two redheads, but it was Botan that spoke.

"You two knew each other?"

"Yes," replied Kurama, nodding with a smile, "I believe that's why I thought she seemed so familiar."

"He was the only person I managed to write to while I was in Germany," stated Shinzui, "at least until my dad freaked out about it."

"Why didn't you realize this until now?" inquired Yusuke. Inwardly he thought. _This makes things easier._

"Well, we didn't call each other by our full names," explained Shinzui with another shrug, "I called him, Shuu, and he called me, Shin. I didn't really remember until my dream last night."

"They say dreams can be a gateway into memories," remarked Botan, eyeing the girl with interest.

"That theory also states that there has to be a trigger for such dreams," said Shinzui, raising an eyebrow, "Hard to track down memories when you don't know the trigger."

"Has the name Koumori triggered anything?" asked the blue haired girl, watching Shinzui closely.

"Not at all," replied the girl, shrugging, "I've never heard that name until last night."

Botan sat in deep thought, staring hard at Shinzui. After a few moments, she spoke:

"Have you ever heard the name Inu Kodoku?"

At first, Shinzui thought this question was ridiculous and was about to say so when she felt a strange ripple go through her head. The slight headache that began when she was trying to drag out those memories started to get worse after the weird feeling. She winced and put a hand to her head, startled by the intensifying pain.

"Are you all right?" asked Kurama in concern.

"Bad headache," grumbled the girl, rubbing her forehead, "I must have focused too much on trying to pull out those unaccessible memories before." She stood up on steady legs and looked at the group. "Thank you for your help again, but I think I need to take another nap."

Without even waiting for the group to say anything, Shinzui turned on her heel and walked up the stairs, heading for the room she was using. Mostly, Shinzui just wanted to get away from Botan's gaze because she felt as though this new girl could see something that she couldn't. The redhead was also quite disturbed by how her mind reacted to the name that she had mentioned because it had never done that before.

_What was that name again? _thought the girl, walking down the hall,_ Inu Kodoku?_

Just thinking the name made Shinzui's head throb even more as the weird sensation ran through her mind again and she started to feel sick. Her headache had now turned into a full blown migraine, causing dizziness to sweep over the girl, and her legs wavered. She grabbed the doorframe that she had reached and clung to it, trying to keep herself upright. Shinzui felt a pair of hands gently slip under her arms and helped support her weight. She glanced up and saw Kurama. The girl had been so deep in thought that she hadn't realized the others had followed her.

"It seems your strength hasn't quite returned," he said.

"I could've gotten to the bed by myself," muttered Shinzui, looking away. She appreciated his help, but at the same time the girl disliked being so openly vulnerable.

"I don't think you want to sleep in glass and splinters," commented Kurama, ignoring Shinzui's rudeness.

"Eh?" said Shinzui, blinking in surprise and then she looked at the room, which was still a mess from the battle. "Oh...Right." She sighed at the broken chair and window, but she quickly averted her gaze from the bright sunlight streaming through the window because it made her head hurt even more. "I can pay for that."

"No need," stated Kurama with a smile, "it's not that expensive. I can pay for them myself."

Shinzui didn't look at him, but Kurama could see that her expression became neutral as she spoke.

"That's sweet, but I should pay for the repair costs." _I don't want to be a burden,_ she thought, _They've done more than I could ever repay them for._ She spoke aloud again, "Then I'll take the couch."

Shinzui straightened up and turned, intending to head back to the living room. However, her head did not agree with this movement. The dizziness was back with a vengeance and the world in front of her became distorted. She quickly blinked hard, trying to settle her vision, but it didn't work and she would've gone down if Kurama hadn't steadied her. She was putting so much effort into resisting the migraine's effects that she was starting to sweat from the exertion. After thwarting her second fall, Kurama finally got a good look at Shinzui's face and was shocked to see that much of her color had gone.

"Are you okay?" asked Kurama, quite concerned, "You're really pale."

"My headache appears to have given birth to a migraine," replied Shinzui, feeling sick again from the lightheadedness, "and it's an unruly child." She noticed that the world in front of her started to bend in a strange way. "I think I need to lie down now."

Kurama realized that Shinzui was starting to sag even more in his arms and he quickly helped her to his room, so she could lie down.

"I'd be fine on the couch," muttered the girl, not looking at him, "you didn't have to give up your bed."

"No, I didn't _have_ to," said Kurama, "but I _wanted_ to." He gazed at her profile. "What has made you so insecure about people? You weren't like this when we first met."

"I'm not sure if that's what it is," sighed Shinzui, "I've just gotten used to fending for myself. Getting so much help from people and letting them see me in a vulnerable state makes me uncomfortable." She turned her head to look at Kurama. "Things have changed a lot, Shuuichi. My situation improved while I was in Germany, but it went downhill very quickly after we moved back. I may not remember everything that happened during those years in the blank spot, but it obviously changed me because I react to things differently now. Getting involved with Tenma brought my life to a huge low point." She sighed again and stared at the ceiling. "It's not that I don't like people... It's just that I'm afraid to trust them...and I'm afraid of what might happen to them if they get close to me."

"What do you mean?" asked Kurama, confused by her words.

Shinzui shifted her eyes to look at him. "You've seen what Tenma's like and how strong he is. What do you think I mean?"

Kurama could see the haunted look in the girl's eyes and was quite for a few minutes before speaking again.

"Shinzui, what did he do to you?"

"Made my life a living nightmare," said the girl, sighing and turning her head to him, "When things turned bad, he drove away any friends I had in town and hurt anyone who tried to stand up to him. The only reason I have friends right now is because he's so focused on me that he ignores the people I'm with...Unless they fight him. I'm worried about what he'll do to you guys. You're better off not getting involved."

Shinzui was completely shocked to see Kurama smile and even chuckle a bit.

"Sorry," said Kurama, "it's just that I thought you would've realized by now that we've faced much worse than Tenma. We are friends with a demon after all. What do you think we had to save him from?" He kept with the story that Hiei was only their friend because they saved his life. He touched her hand. "We're already involved. We're your friends and we know you're in trouble. Do you really think so little of us that you believe we're the type that would abandon a friend in need?"

The girl stared at him, completely speechless. She was so used to people getting scared off by Tenma. Even Taikou, who was the bravest of her coworkers, no longer got involved with such incidents after a vicious beating from the gang. The most he would do after that was offer her sanctuary if she sought him out. Shinzui glanced down at Kurama's hand on her own and a faint flush crept into her cheeks.

"You seriously think we'd run away?" came a voice from the doorway.

It was Kuwabara who spoke, but he wasn't alone. Yusuke, who was giving his friend an annoyed look, came into view and even Hiei appeared to have been listening.

"You're probably able to handle demons with that spirit energy," said Shinzui, glancing at them, "but there's still Tenma. Master Genkai taught me that those with spirit energy aren't supposed to use it on regular humans. He won't like the fact that you helped me and he didn't show what he's entirely capable of at that last fight."

"Do we really look like cowards?" asked Yusuke, grinning, "It's true that we can't use our spirit energy attacks on Tenma, but we're two of the biggest delinquents in the city. No way would that idiot scare us away. If we get him without the rest of his gang, we could totally take him out. He doesn't seem so tough."

"He's strong," said Kurama, with a bit of firmness to his voice, but most of his tone was bright, "but I believe we can handle him."

"Hell, we wouldn't run away even if he was stronger than us," declared Yusuke, punching his fist into his hand, "Just another challenge to overcome."

"Yeah!" whooped Kuwabara.

_But we've only had one incident, _thought Shinzui, feeling unsure again,_ and as I thought, they can't use their spirit energy on normal humans. I'm the only one here who knows what Tenma is truly capable of and I doubt they'd be so gung-ho if they knew. _However, their enthusiasm made her smile._ Still, they're some of the few who have ever wanted to stick around like this. Even if they aren't afraid, I can't let them take the risk, but it's nice to know that they want to help._

All the girl said aloud was: "Thank you."

Shinzui felt drained from the emotions she had gone through and the migraine didn't help. She had slowly gotten sleepier and sleepier over the course of the conversation. After speaking, the girl closed her eyes and fell asleep. Kouken trotted into the room and lightly leapt on the bed, settling down on the left side of Shinzui. He rested his head on the girl's ankles, gazing at them with eyes that seemed grateful for their words. They quietly filed out of the room and those that could went around the house, setting up protection wards to keep the bat demons out. Later the group sat downstairs discussing everything and wondering where the events would take them in the end.

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- Bitte beruhigen - Calm down please. (German)

Hiei's line "Thank you, Mr. Tact." came from _The Producers_ musical movie. I was watching it when I wrote that section of this chapter. Now I always hear Nathan Lane whenever I read that line. XD

I really enjoyed playing with psychology in this chapter. Shinzui's insecurities and phobia. The sad thing about Shinzui's bat phobia...She can't watch Batman *sniff* So tragic! XD Kouken's bath game was also fun to write.


	8. Home is Where the Questions Are

Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakusho characters and world stuff belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. All original characters and stuff belong to me.

Author's Notes: This chapter made me happy because I got to play with German. Yay! =D Lots of new material in this one.

On an entirely different note, I got a lovely little review from someone who obviously believes they can hurt me with weak insults. Instead, it made me laugh because I don't take my fanfics seriously. I write fanfics to indulge my own fantasies, I'm not afraid to admit that. =D For me, fanfics serve one purpose: **practice**. If people like it, yay. If people don't, well, I don't care unless they offer constructive criticism. I always hope people enjoy it because it's nice to entertain people, but that's not my motivation for writing fanfics. Shameful am I? Well, I may write for my own selfish reasons, but at least I don't hide behind anonymity. =D

However, I doubt the person who wrote that comment will read this chapter and these comments. If they do and reply to this with another set of useless insults, that means they really are someone who has no life or talent and spends their days trolling. For now, I will give them the benefit of the doubt and believe that they are just someone who doesn't like the way I write, which is fine. They're allowed to have their own opinion. That's why I haven't deleted their review.

Anyway, for those of you who like the story, I hope you enjoy the chapter. =D

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On Yume's orders, Shinzui spent the rest of the week at Kurama's house because things were too chaotic at the dojo. Though the woman did come by every now and then to check up on her. While her injuries were healing at a normal pace, regaining her energy took more time and being an invalid was something the girl greatly disliked. Regardless, she was enjoying her stay and spent most of her time either reading, drawing, or talking with Kurama when he was around. Keiko showed up on Tuesday with the homework and notes that Shinzui needed and promised to bring anything else she missed during the week. Just like the boys, she refused to be chased away by Tenma, but she did promise to run and find help if he ever showed up when the two of them were by themselves. This was something that the redhead was adamant about.

Each day, Shinzui had great fun picking through her old letters with Kurama and she was rather embarrassed by some of the girly things she had written. Yusuke and Kuwabara, who sometimes showed up, enjoyed teasing her about it until she threw pillows at them. As the days passed, Kurama noticed that Shinzui's rose was steadily gaining more blue on the petals, which he found odd, but he decided that it might just be the effect of her energy on the flower. On Friday, they got to the final letter, which was the most worn looking of the entire collection. The ink at the creases had started to fade, so he kept it flat in a folder. The girl read through it with ease, but not aloud. Finally, she looked up at him and spoke.

"Did you recognize any of the phrases in this?"

"I recognized some words," admitted the redhead, looking a bit embarrassed.

Shinzui spread the letter out, so both of them could look at it. She pointed to a single phrase at the bottom and read it aloud.

"Ich komme zurück." She looked at Kurama. "It basically means I'm coming back."

"I thought that's what it meant," commented Kurama, gazing at the words, "but I wasn't sure. This letter completely surprised me because I hadn't heard from you in almost a year. How'd you get it past your father?"

"I mailed it from France," chuckled Shinzui with a grin, "I minded him that entire year and made no attempts to mail letters, but when I heard we were going to move back. I had to send you one."

"Why did you write it completely in German?" asked Kurama, "I had only been learning it for a few months when your letters became sporadic."

Shinzui suddenly blushed and looked away with an embarrassed smile. "I wanted to be there when you read it. To help you translate it." She glanced at him. "I hoped it would reestablish our friendship. Your letters were infrequent during that third year I was gone and when they barely came during that fourth and final year in Germany...I couldn't stand it. I hated the idea of losing your friendship because my dad was being paranoid." She chuckled. "So I wrote it completely in German to make it hard for you to read. I had hoped you would at least understand the sentence about me coming back."

"I'm sorry for not realizing it back then," said Kurama, smiling at the girl, "There were a lot of things going on."

"Don't apologize, Shuuichi," laughed Shinzui, shaking her head, "There's no reason to. I would've completely understood if you didn't want to be my friend anymore. I mean, I can't imagine what it felt like to write so many letters when the responses were few and then there was nothing for an entire year. I should be apologizing for not trying harder to get my letters out." She looked at the floor with a sigh.

"You don't have to apologize either," stated the boy, putting a hand on her shoulder, "You were a child trying to go against adults. That's not easy." He held up the letter. "Why don't we do what you wanted to do back then?"

Shinzui grinned at him and then stood up with her hands on her hips. "Okay, but only one line at a time. That was my plan of action back then to spend more time with you even if you did hate me. To only translate a little bit at a time and then leave you hanging. I remembered your intense curiosity and your hopelessness with languages."

"You're more devious than you look," chuckled Kurama, "and what do you mean hopelessness? I thought I did well with my German in the letters."

"Oh, you did fine," remarked Shinzui as she sat back down at the table, "but you got a tutor for those times right?" Her lips curved into a knowing smile.

Kurama stared at her in surprise. "How did you know that?"

"The only reason I caught on to German so quickly was that I became completely immersed in the language," explained the girl, "the language by itself was pretty hard to learn, but doing it as a side project is even harder."

"How did you know it became a side project?" inquired Kurama.

"I know most schools here don't teach German," answered Shinzui with a shrug, "except for universities and some high schools. Though I wasn't sure if you'd ask the tutor to help with my last letter, but I hoped you wouldn't. I left a lot to chance."

"Luck was on your side," said the boy, "my tutor was a student who worked with my mom and by the time that letter came he had moved back to Germany." He glanced at the letter. "So what does the first line say?"

"Es tut mir leid, dass ich geschrieben habe so wenige Antworten, aber das wird der letzte Brief erhalten Sie von mir," said Shinzui, reading from the paper, "That means, I'm sorry that I have written so few responses, but this will be the last letter you receive from me."

The girl glanced up at Kurama, who looked a bit stunned by the sentence.

"I wrote that because I had found out I was coming back," laughed Shinzui with a grin, "I wouldn't need to write letters to you anymore." She noticed the time. "Oh wow, ten-thirty. It's gotten late." She sighed. "I really should head home tomorrow."

"Why?" asked Kurama, not really thinking about it.

Shinzui stared at him in surprise, blushing slightly, and an awkward silence hung in the air. Kurama's cheeks also flushed a bit when he realized what he had said. He tried to figure out how to break the silence, but the girl chuckled and spoke first.

"Well, my energy is recovered and most of my injuries are healed." She didn't look at Kurama. "Besides, if I'm gone any longer my dad will start sending out his minions. If he hasn't already." She paused again, trying to think of something else to say. "It has been a lot of fun being here, but..." She broke off, really unsure of what else to say.

"Sorry about that," said the boy, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed expression, "it just sort of came out."

Shinzui chuckled. "It's probably because you're finally getting a translation for the letter and your curiosity overrode your brain." She smiled. "It really has been wonderful being here. Away from the paranoia of my father and the creepiness that is Toraeru."

"Creepiness?" repeated Kurama.

"He sort of...lurks," stated the girl with a slight shiver, "I mean...He won't follow me around unless he's under orders, but at the house...He'll sort of just appear out of no where." She shrugged. "It's more over a feeling I get from him. Like something just isn't right about him. Not dangerous, but...weird." She yawned and got out of the chair. "Well, time for bed."

"I agree," said Kurama, also yawning, "I had an astronomy lab this morning."

"Oh, how was that?" asked Shinzui, pushing her chair.

Kurama picked up the letter and they walked to the stairs as he replied.

"It was really interesting. We talked about the constellations we saw and plotted them on a star map."

"My old high school had an astronomy club," stated the girl, "I went to one meeting at the beginning of the year and quickly discovered that I'm useless with the calculations part. I just like stargazing and the stories, but I already had drama club and my job, so I had no time for a second club."

The pair walked up the stairs, chatting about the stars until they reached the guest room that Shinzui now occupied again. She had moved back to it once the window had been replaced, but not before the group put strong protection wards on the outside. She had no idea this had been done, but she surprised the group with a comment about the room feeling somewhat different. However, she decided that it was the fact that the closet door still had a large hole in it. Shinzui and Kurama said their good nights and retired to their rooms for a peaceful sleep.

After breakfast the next morning, Shinzui packed up her things in the duffle bag and took one last look around the room with a smile.

_This past week was fun, _she thought_, Too bad I have to go home._

With a sigh, Shinzui turned and left the room with the bag draped over her left shoulder. It hurt a little because the weight tugged at the skin of her still healing chest injuries, but it wasn't bad. She met her host at the bottom of the stairs and stopped, setting her bag down before giving a formal bow. Kouken trotted out from the kitchen and bumped his head against Kurama's leg, asking for scratches, and the boy obliged.

"Thank you for your hospitality and help, Shuuichi," said Shinzui, straightening up to smile at him, "I really appreciate it."

"You don't need to be so formal," commented Kurama, returning the smile, "you're my friend. I was happy to help. Shall we go?"

"We?" repeated the girl, looking surprised.

"I intend to escort you home," he stated, "whether you want me to or not."

Shinzui, who had been about to protest, chuckled and smiled again. "All right. It'd be nice to have some company on the way home."

The girl stooped down to retrieve her bag, but Kurama hoisted it on to his shoulder before she had the chance to grab it. He spoke again before Shinzui could object.

"I will also carry your bag for you. It can't be good for your injuries. I know you could easily carry it yourself, but I can see that it hurts regardless of which shoulder you sling it on."

From the look on his face, the girl could tell that Kurama would not budge on the issue and gave a sigh of resignation.

"Okay." She scuffed her feet a bit, looking embarrassed. "So you could tell that it hurt, huh?"

"Indeed," replied the fox, nodding, "you looked relieved when you put the bag on the floor whereas before your expression was a bit strained."

"Oh, you're good," chuckled Shinzui, rather impressed.

"I'm around people who try to hide pain all the time," explained Kurama, heading for the door, "I've learned to see the more subtle signs of it."

Shinzui followed the boy out the door with Kouken and once the house was secure, the two walked down the street in the direction of the girl's house. Over the entire week, they had no trouble finding things to talk about, but this simple walk was ruled by silence. Kurama could see that Shinzui was deep in thought about something, so he decided to not disturb her musings. When they started through the park that would lead them to the girl's neighborhood, she finally spoke.

"Are you guys really that resolute about helping me?"

Of all the things she could've asked, this was something Kurama hadn't expected. He stopped and turned to look at the girl next to him, noticing that her expression wasn't just one of worry, but one of guilt. She was also avoiding eye contact, which he had noticed usually indicated she was extremely uncomfortable and insecure about the subject. Kurama frowned slightly.

_There is much more behind this behavior than years of abuse,_ he thought,_ Something major must have happened to make her so insecure. _Aloud he replied in a calm tone.

"Of course we are. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I certainly don't make such declarations lightly and Hiei will help where he can. Don't worry about us. We've dealt with much worse than those bat demons."

Kurama gave an encouraging smile, but Shinzui, who flinched when she heard the word 'bat,' still wouldn't look at him as she murmured.

"It's not those demons I'm worried about."

The boy frowned again as he spoke. "You're worried about Tenma, aren't you."

The girl finally glanced at him and then nodded. "You all can't use spirit energy against regular humans and I know you think you could handle him without it, but...You guys just don't know what he's capable of."

"Then why don't you tell us?" asked Kurama, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder, "What are you so afraid he'll do?"

Shinzui's answer was so quiet that he almost didn't hear it. "He might kill you." Her hands mimicked the quiver in her voice.

The boy had no idea what to say when he heard this. He had thought she would be afraid that he and the other boys would be beaten and terrorized, but Shinzui's demeanor told him that she had voiced what she truly feared.

_This doesn't seem like some fear brought on by panicked emotions_, mused Kurama after further observations of the girl's manner, _It seems more like a fear that was reinforced._ His thoughts trailed off as he realized what this might mean and it was _not_ a pleasant possibility.

Since the beginning of this conversation, Shinzui had been carefully observing Kurama whenever he wasn't looking and listened closely to the tones in his voice. In a sense, her admission had become a test that would decide how she behaved with her new friends in the future. The fact that he didn't show any fear when he heard her worry, but instead sunk into deep thoughts with a frown certainly made her concern increase. To her, the redhead was the most level headed of the bunch and she had the feeling that if he was still adamant about helping her, Yusuke and the others would be as well.

_I don't want them to help,_ thought Shinzui, staring at her shoes,_ They'll just get themselves killed and I'm not going to let that happen again. Perhaps I can discourage them somehow...I guess I'll start with the usual tactic._

Shinzui sighed and spoke before Kurama had put all his thoughts together.

"Forget it."

Kurama was startled by the sudden chill of the girl's tone and noticed that a strange expression flashed across her face as she stepped away from him.

"Let's just get to my house."

Shinzui walked down the path and the confused boy quickly followed. He had originally intended to stop her and ask if he had done something wrong, but then he remembered the odd expression and decided against it. Instead, he just walked beside her in silence as the park trail lead them out a north entrance into a rather impressive neighborhood. There was a street that went by the park and across it was one of the few gated communities in the city. All the houses in the area were large with lawns and landscaping that stretched all around the building. Surrounding the community was a forest and the creek that ran through the park went through the trees behind the houses on the right side. Shinzui greeted the guard at the station and he let them through the sidewalk gate.

"My house is the third one on the right," said Shinzui, maintaining her neutral manner.

As they neared the house, Kurama could see the broken brick that Hiei had told them about. He glanced down at Shinzui's left hand, which was still scabbed and bruised from her violent act against the wall. They stopped at the gate and she turned to him.

"Thank you for everything, Shuuichi," she said, bowing a bit, "I guess I'll see you around." The smile on her face didn't quite reach her eyes.

"You don't have to force yourself to act distant," stated Kurama, meeting the girl's eyes, "Even if you do, you're still our friend and we want to help you."

Shinzui's eyes widened slightly and she took a step back in surprise, realizing he had seen through her. He walked forward and handed the girl her duffle bag, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder again as he spoke quietly.

"Whatever happened in the past...It won't repeat itself."

Shinzui was so startled by these words that she dropped her bag and stared at him, completely speechless.

The boy merely smiled at her and scooped up the bag. "I appreciate your concern, but I think you're underestimating our abilities. We really can take care of ourselves." He held the duffle out to the girl. "You don't have to worry."

Shinzui grasped the straps of her bag, eyes still fixed on him, but all she could say was: "Why?"

"You're our friend," replied Kurama, letting go of the bag, "We don't give up on friends." With that he turned and walked back toward the front gate, turning back to wave at her.

Shinzui waved back with a dumbstruck expression as she watched him leave through the gate and disappear into the park. She put her hand over her heart, feeling its quick beat, and gripped the front of her shirt a bit.

"I don't think I can distance them, Kouken." She looked down at the dog. "but I don't want them to get hurt either."

Kouken whined and leaned against her leg, nuzzling the hand that was holding her bag before licking it.

"Yeah," sighed the girl with a small smile, "they're good people. I really like them and I want them as friends." She turned and looked at the large house behind her. "Hmm. That's weird. Toraeru usually appears the moment I set foot in the neighborhood. Something must be going on." She shrugged and looked at Kouken. "Shall we go in?"

Kouken barked and ran to the gate, which Shinzui opened after punching in a code on a keypad. She walked around to the back, deciding to go in through the kitchen, and noticed that there were three familiar cars parked in the back area of the driveway.

"Ah, _they're_ here," murmured the girl as she passed the vehicles, "that explains why Toraeru isn't around."

Shinzui used her keys to unlock the back door and went inside, closing and locking the door once Kouken had gone through. She greeted the cook and her assistant that were working there, inquiring about the cars.

"Signor Ookami is in a private meeting with Signori Hiromaru, Kyougu, and Utsuru, Signorina," replied the cook, stirring the pot on the stove.

"Grazie, Signora Tegame," said Shinzui, smiling, "How long have they been in there?"

"About fifteen minutes, I'd say," stated the assistant, drying off the dish he had just finished cleaning, "Sencha brought them their tea and some food and Dr. Ookami told her that they were not to be disturbed unless he called."

"Is Toraeru with them?" inquired the redhead, looking at the assistant.

"I believe so," he replied, setting aside the plate.

"Thank you, Senjou," said Shinzui, "please let me know when my dad's meeting is finished, so I can speak with him. I'll be up in my room."

"Yes, miss," said the boy, returning to his dish washing.

Shinzui wandered up to her room and deposited her duffle on her bed, unzipping the top to start unpacking. She pulled out her shower items and left her room to put them in the bathroom when sounds from her father's study caught her attention. The girl hadn't noticed before that the door was slightly ajar and she could clearly hear the voices of the men inside. She quietly knelt down out of sight and peered through the crack in the door. She spotted her father in one chair with Toraeru standing behind him and then she shifted a bit to look at the other men, whom she recognized from their other visits.

To her father's right sat a tall, thin man with chin length, black hair slicked back with a gel that made his hair look extremely oily and his orange-brown eyes looked bored as he listened to one of his colleagues jabber on. The talking man was sitting to her father's left with an excited glint in his dark brown eyes. He was a short man with flyaway, brown hair that was cut short and the sides were peppered grey. The man with his back to the door was completely bald and from what she could see, he had gained weight since he last dropped by. What she couldn't see were his narrowed, slate colored eyes glaring at his chattering companion.

_Father's coworkers, _thought Shinzui, looking at the black haired man,_ Gaidoku Hiromaru. _Her eyes shifted to the short man._ Baikin Kyougu. _Finally, her gaze rested on the back of the bald man's head._ Yamai Utsuru. Looks like that diet didn't work out._

Baikin seemed to be finished with his chittering, so Gaidoku seized the chance to speak.

"So, Shoushiko, have you considered our offer?"

Shinzui noticed that her father looked very tired as he replied with a sigh.

"Yes, I have. You lot have been badgering me about it since December."

_No wonder dad's been on edge, _thought Shinzui,_ Anyone would get frustrated if these morons kept bugging them._

"What's your answer?" inquired Baikin in an eager tone.

"Don't sound so excited," snorted Shinzui's father, frowning at his colleague, "I'm not agreeing to it. We already have the contract and we will wait until that date."

"Dammit, Shoushiko!" snapped Yamai, pounding his fist on the table, making their teacups shake, "We want to run tests before that date and it's getting closer! We need to establish a baseline for that kid of yours!"

Shinzui's eyes widened when she heard this. _Me? _she thought,_ They...They want me? Why? _Her eyes narrowed._ What is this contract dad mentioned?_

"She's already showing signs of growing abilities," stated Gaidoku in a calm tone, "Toraeru told us of what he saw in the park last Sunday."

_Oh my god, _thought the girl, her eyes flicking over to Toraeru,_ He was there? Crap. I hope he didn't see the guys._

"Her seventeenth year is coming up, too," chattered Baikin, looking like he was about to bounce out of his seat, "We have to be able to properly measure her abilities before that seer's words come true."

"The contract is for _after_ she turns seventeen," growled Shoushiko, glowering at them, "I've given you my notes of the past sixteen years and allowed you to observe her as well, but I will not let you take her to the lab right now."

"Then just get us that flower!" snapped Yamai angrily, "we can at least study _that_ before the end of the contract."

"She won't let me touch it!" exclaimed Shoushiko, shaking his head, "and she always keeps it with her."

"Then just send a minion to snatch it from her," said Gaidoku, rolling his eyes.

"I did," sighed the man, "most of them ended up in the hospital. Even Toraeru couldn't steal it from her and he's the most skilled of the group."

"I guess we'll just take it later," murmured Gaidoku, scowling.

"You've given us those scientific notes," said Baikin, "but what about those journals you've been keeping since her birth?" He pointed at the small bookshelf next to the desk behind Shoushiko.

"Those are my _personal_ journals," replied Shoushiko, narrowing his eyes, "They cannot be used for scientific purposes, which is why I won't give them to you." He stood up with his arms folded behind his back. "We have our plan and we will not move forward early. I believe the meeting is over." He looked at the man standing beside him. "Toraeru, please show these gentlemen to the door."

"Yes, sir," said Toraeru, bowing to Shoushiko before gesturing to the other men, "Follow me, sirs."

Shinzui quickly scrambled back to her room and shut the door just as Toraeru opened the study door to see the three men out. She listened to the retreating footsteps and sighed, returning to her task of unpacking the duffle. Kouken had lost interest in the whole affair and was sprawled out on his large pillow bed asleep. After a few minutes, there was a knock on her door and she heard Senjou's voice.

"Miss Shinzui? Your father is finished with his meeting. He's in the living room downstairs."

"Thank you, Senjou," called the girl, setting down the shirt she had just pulled out, "I'll be down in a moment."

"Yes, miss," said the boy and he left.

Shinzui finished sorting the dirty clothing from the clean and stuffed the former into the laundry hamper. She sighed, deciding she couldn't avoid the meeting any longer, and trekked off to the first floor after telling Kouken to stay in the room. When she entered the living room, both Toraeru and her father looked extremely surprised by her sudden appearance. This made both of them appear less intimidating than they usually were.

"Shinzui," said Shoushiko, "you're...You're home."

"I suppose I am," commented Shinzui, keeping a neutral expression, "from the sounds of it we had guests."

"Yes, my colleagues," replied the older man, his usual composure missing, "Where have you been? Yume called saying you were staying with friends, but..." He trailed off.

"Yes, I was staying with some friends," replied Shinzui with a shrug, "I decided to come home before you sent out the service to start bothering them. Anyway, I'm home. I'm having lunch in my room because I have homework to do and I _don't_ want to be bothered."

With that, Shinzui turned and left the room to return upstairs. It was rather surprising that neither her father or Toraeru tried to stop or follow her to start the usual interrogation, but she was glad they didn't. It allowed her to investigate the journals Baikin had mentioned earlier. Shinzui paused at the door that led to her father's study and tried the handle only to find that it was locked. She retreated into her room to rummage through one of her drawers until she pulled out a thin, black box and returned to the obstacle. The box contained lock picking tools, which she proved to be rather skillful with. After a few minutes of work, the lock popped open and the girl slipped inside the room, quietly shutting and locking the door behind her.

"Okay, now to find those journals," she murmured.

Shinzui searched through the bookcase to find an interesting journal, but it was the one lying on the desk that caught her eye first. She sat down at the desk and grabbed the book, flipping through the pages and reading through the contents with fascination. An entry in the middle of the book made her stop and stare in shock at the words.

"What the..." she hissed, frowning as she read the passage:

_'On the seventeenth year, in the light of a blue moon, your daughter will reveal her power. An old soul will gain a body. An animal shall become a man. Her powers shall summon up demons from the darkest depths of the Makai world.'_

_This was said by the seer that I met in a cafe with my colleagues. This worries me. She also said: 'Your daughter will be put through many trials, but she can't succeed without allies. Help her.' I don't understand it at all._

Shinzui stared at the pages in amazement. "This is really weird..." She read a few more pages, trying to find out more about this entry, but then abandoned the book when she couldn't find anything. "Hmm...If he kept journals for each year...I wonder." She searched through the bookcase and then let out a quiet exclamation. "Aha...Here." She dragged out a book that had the number eleven scrawled on the side. Shinzui picked through the pages, finding nothing of interest until one particular entry in July:

_It's only been four months since we returned from Germany and my daughter has continuously disappeared. I might only see her for a day or two before she vanishes again. She claims that she's been staying at the Genkai's dojo for training purposes, but it seems like more than that. A few times she's returned with injuries that I don't think Kioku or Genkai would give her, but she won't answer my questions. I want to tell her how worried I am and mean it, but...If I show any signs of caring they'll take her away from me._

Shinzui froze when she heard the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs and approaching the room. Quickly, she returned everything to its proper place and looked wildly around for an escape route. She ran over to the window and shoved it open, climbing through it. The girl was grateful for the sturdy, wrought iron basket that surrounded the window planter because she was able to hang from it, albeit rather awkwardly, and be hidden from view if anyone looked out the window. Just as she got under it and out of sight, she heard the door open and her father walked in the room. His footsteps stopped by the window and Shinzui heard him speak.

"Hmm...I don't remember leaving the window open. Ah, the plants are dry." He walked away from the window.

A few minutes passed and Shinzui suddenly felt water drip on to her head. Her father was watering the plants and the excess liquid was seeping through the bottom of the planter.

_Is he using the _entire_ watering can? _she thought, resisting the urge to laugh._ That explains why I have to keep treating dad's potted plants for rot and mold. _She could feel her left hand beginning to throb._ Just a bit longer._

After her father had thoroughly soaked the plants and, unknowingly, his own daughter, Shoushiko closed the window and returned to his desk. Shinzui took this chance to swing herself toward a nearby tree and grabbed on to the closest branch. Unfortunately, her judgement of the branch's strength had been wrong and it gave way from the sudden weight, dropping her into the mass of bushes at the base with a crash.

"Ow..." muttered the girl, crawling out of the vegetation.

Shinzui quickly took off to the back of the house when she remembered that even through a closed window, her father would've heard the noise. She sidled over to a tall tree that grew next to her room and climbed it. The girl steadied herself on a thick branch that hung a foot away from the window and reached across to carefully slide the window open. She slipped inside, shutting the window behind her, and then collapsed onto her bed with a sigh, feeling exhausted from all the emotional stimulation. Regardless of the bright sunlight filling her room, Shinzui managed to drift off to sleep within a few minutes.

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The first big change is that I've moved an entire chunk of the original chapter to the next one.

Okay, learning German as a native English speaker was difficult, but at least has some similar rules. I'm just taking a guess that learning German as a native Japanese speaker would be more difficult. It's probably not, but oh well.

Fun Note: Tegame is skillet in Italian. =D I thought it would be fun for them to have an Italian chef so I could play with Italian. I'm a language addict. Besides, Shoushiko is addicted to Italian food. XD


	9. Seer Visions and Journal Revelations

Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakusho characters and world stuff belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. Zorro is the property of Johnston McCulley. All original characters and stuff belong to me.

Author's Notes: As you can see, I've moved an entire chunk of story that was originally in chapter 8 to this chapter. I've also toned down the creepiness of Toraeru (if there was any XD). I think I had some ulterior motive with that guy, but I realized that it was completely ridiculous. XD I'm also trying a new storytelling tactic. I tend to forget that sometimes things I write are only obvious to me because I'm the author, but they may not be as obvious to my readers. So, I'm trying to look at my writing from the perspective of an average reader.

Oh, you marvelous flamers who hide behind anonymity. You fill me with joy and laughter. Your mindless anger keeps me warm at night. All your pointless complaints do is make me more determined to write. Writing is my first love and deepest passion. I shall remain loyal to it. I will not yield. Feel free to keep trying though, but be creative and watch your spelling because your reviews will be graded.

Read John Scalzi's "Whatever" blog (specifically the entry on March 7th, 2002) or his book _Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded_, which is what I've been reading. I have a similar approach to flames.

For those who like what they're reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter. =D Oh yeah, my title was inspired by the show Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations. XD If you know that show, you're made of awesome.

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By the time Shinzui woke up again, the light in her room had faded considerably and a sunset colored the sky outside her window. She sat up, stretching her muscles, which were sore from her fall, and disappeared into the bathroom with a thick robe to take a shower. When Shinzui emerged from the bathroom, she nearly ran into her father, who had just gotten to the landing with a tray laden with some dishes bearing the dinner that she had seen planned out on Signora Tegame's dry erase board.

"Oh, Shinzui," said Shoushiko, looking surprised, "I thought you were studying."

"I was," replied Shinzui with a shrug, "I needed a break, so I took a shower." She looked at the tray. "Taking dinner in the office?"

"Actually, this is for you," answered the man, failing at his attempt to sound uninterested, "Signora Tegame is heading home soon and she mentioned that you hadn't eaten yet."

"Is it really that late?" asked Shinzui, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice.

"It's almost eight," stated Shoushiko, "you must have a lot of homework if you haven't realized the time."

"Yeah, that kind of happens when you're out of your new school for a week," muttered the redhead, walking off to her room.

Shoushiko said nothing as he followed her with the tray and stood in the doorway while Shinzui flicked on the lights. He frowned at the rumpled sheets on her bed and looked over to watch his daughter clear off a spot for her dinner on her paper strewn desk. As she shoved an open book to the back of the surface, she caught sight of her father's expression and spoke in a stiff voice.

"I also took a nap." She walked to him and took the tray, avoiding eye contact. "Thank you for the food."

The fact that her father had delivered the meal himself wasn't what surprised Shinzui the most. It was the concern in his voice when he mentioned what Signora Tegame had told him.

"I'll leave you to your studies," said Shoushiko, glancing at her. It seemed like he wanted to say more, but he turned and walked out the door instead.

_That was weird,_ thought Shinzui, closing the door behind her father, _He seemed genuinely...concerned._ She shrugged and quickly got dressed before fixing her hair into a braid to keep it out of the way. _Despite our last fight and the tension, dad's still been having more and more moments where he acts like...well...a dad. If he keeps it up...it might be like Germany. _She smiled a bit. _That would be nice. _She suddenly remembered her own behavior and frowned. _I certainly don't make it easy for him. If I want things to change, I have to do my part, too._

The sky grew darker as Shinzui ate her meal and wrestled with her calculus homework, which almost resulted in the defenestration of the book, but she resisted. When she finally finished the annoying problems, she decided to blow off steam with more snooping in her father's journals. She picked the lock to his study again and snuck inside with a backpack, grabbing random journals from the shelf. After cramming as many as she could into the bag, the girl slipped out of the house through the kitchen with Kouken following closely behind her. She retreated to the park and selected a large tree to sit under, quite pleased with her successful escape.

"That went well," chuckled Shinzui, scratching Kouken's ears, "not exactly a step in the right direction if I want things to change, but it's not that bad, right?" She looked at the dog.

Kouken cocked his head to one side and gave her a look.

"Okay, it's probably a step backwards," she admitted, "but right now I really want to know what's in these things and I doubt he'd tell me if I asked nicely. I'll try asking next time. Now let's see which ones I grabbed."

The redhead pulled out a flashlight and the four books she had managed to abscond with, checking the covers to see what years they were. To her surprise, one of them was from the year of her birth and she quickly opened it to find out what it said about when she was born, but she didn't find much out of the ordinary at all. The only strange thing that happened was the blooming of her rose, which had started off as red. There was no entry about her mother passing away.

"What the hell," murmured Shinzui, flipping through the pages of February, "Dad would've written something about it! She was the love of his life!" A later entry caught her eye. "Wait...What the hell is this?" Her eyes flicked through the passage:

_Reichi seemed strangely somber when she came back from visiting Genkai and the Chikaras. When I asked her what was wrong, she merely smiled and said that everything was fine. I wish she would tell me what was going on. I know Shinzui is a sickly child, but I'd like to know what Reichi is so worked up about. I get the feeling it has something to do with whatever she's been discussing with Yume. She has been going to see her a lot. Maybe she's just waiting for the right time._

Shinzui was in utter shock when she finished reading the paragraph, but then she managed to blurt out:

"Mom was alive?" She stared down at the book. "but...but..." She shook her head, completely dumbfounded, "But Dad said she died when I was born! Why the hell did he lie to me?"

Shinzui read through the rest of the journal, finding nothing major, but noticed that Shoushiko's worry increased over the months. The next journal she opened was from the year she turned five and the entries immediately caught her attention. Her mother was still alive and had told her father what was going on, but he had written the details in a previous journal, so he only referred to specific entries for reference. The girl was dismayed when she realized she didn't have the journal he referred to, but she continued to read anyway. Soon she got to an entry that took place a few days after her birthday:

_Reichi is gone. She left with Shinzui today and did what that Kotori woman asked her to do. The process killed her in the end. Yume said she tried to save her, but it was too late. She used all her energy to perform that spell and now Shinzui can grow up with stability. I...I still can't believe it...She didn't tell me it could kill her... I know it was for the sake of our child, but I wish she had warned me... Then I could've been there for her. Yume told me that Shinzui won't get sick anymore. My daughter does seem to be stronger now and those strange birthmarks are gone. I just wish my dear wife didn't have to..._

The entry stopped there and Shinzui took note that there were places where the ink was smudged. She supposed that her father had been crying as he wrote.

"Mom," She murmured, feeling tears slide down her cheeks, "What did you do for me?" She hugged the book to her chest, drawing her knees up as well. "Either way...I was still the cause of her death." She bowed her head. "Why did Master Genkai and the Chikaras hide this from me?"

Kouken whined and nuzzled her arm.

"Not my fault?" said Shinzui, turning her head to look at the dog, "Of course it was my fault! Dad wrote in here that mom did something to help me and it killed her!" Her hands tightened around the book. "Looks like Mamoru wasn't the only one who died trying to help me...but...dammit!" Her mind was a chaotic mess again from all the different emotional chatter and it was overwhelming.

"What's all this about someone dying?" asked a voice behind Shinzui.

The girl was startled from her muddled thoughts and leapt to her feet, dropping the book as she immediately shifted into a defensive stance. Her eyes fell on a familiar black-haired demon and she relaxed, speaking in a surprised tone.

"Hiei?" His presence really confused her. "What are you doing here?"

"Favor for Shuuichi," replied Hiei stiffly, remembering to use Kurama's human name, "What are you doing out alone this late at night? Last time that happened you were attacked by a demon." He crossed his arms. "Are all humans this forgetful?"

At first, the fire demon was just watching Shinzui because Kurama had persuaded him to, using the same tactic as the first time, but then things turned interesting. He had also eavesdropped on Shoushiko's meeting and it raised more questions. Unfortunately, the girl didn't seem to be in any shape to answer them at the moment.

"When you steal your dad's private journals it's not wise to stay in the house to read them," snorted Shinzui, plopping back down under the tree. His remarks irritated her, but he was right. She hadn't thought her plan through. "and I'm not forgetful...I just didn't think about it."

"That was obvious," stated Hiei, fixing her with a steady gaze, "you were rambling about people dying."

Shinzui glanced at him before picking up the book and sighing. "This..." She stared at the pages, looking depressed. "Remember how I mentioned before that my mom died when I was born because her heart was weak?"

Hiei merely nodded in reply.

"Turns out my dad lied," said Shinzui, blinking several times to fight back the tears. She definitely didn't want to cry in front of a demon. "She didn't die until I was five and it wasn't her heart. It was me. According to my dad's journal, she was told by some person named Kotori that there was something she needed to do for me. Some sort of spell from the sounds of it. I don't have the other journals, so I don't have the details, but whatever she had to do...It took all her energy and killed her." She touched the page that held the entry. "This isn't the first time someone was killed trying to help me."

"Like that Mamoru you mentioned," commented Hiei, hoping his verbal prodding was careful enough.

Shinzui nodded. "He tried to help me out of a bad situation and he was killed for his attempts. He didn't have to help me, but he did anyway. That's just the kind of person he was."

"Don't blame yourself for another person's stupidity," stated Hiei flatly, "forget it and move on."

Shinzui slammed the book shut and glared at him. "You don't get it! I can't forget! It's all my fault that Tenma killed him! If he hadn't acted so foolishly-" She covered her mouth with her hand, surprised by her own words.

"A noble fool I suspect," remarked the fire demon.

"That's a good way to describe him," sighed the girl as she slumped against the tree, feeling ashamed, "Stubborn as a mule, too." She shook her head. "Though I wasn't any better."

"What about these books you have?" inquired Hiei, trying to keep her talking.

"They're journals that my dad's kept since I was born," replied Shinzui with a shrug, "I just hope they'll shed some light on my murky memories." She picked up one of the other books. "Though this one seems to be entirely about the things that seer said to him and the research he did afterward." She held it out, so he could see it.

Hiei took the book and looked at the title. "Prophecy?" He read, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "A seer? Your father went to some fortune teller?"

"From what I read in another book, _she_ found _him_," answered Shinzui, "he was at a café with his colleagues when some woman just walked up to him and started jabbering. I have no idea what the damn thing means though. The only thing I can get out of it is that something weird is going to happen in..." She paused for a moment to think. "a little over two weeks I believe."

"What's in two weeks?" asked the demon, frowning.

"My birthday," replied the redhead, "on the twenty-third I'm turning seventeen. That seventeenth year thing is pretty obvious."

"This is certainly a strange book," commented Hiei, reading through a few pages, "Your father seems to care about you." He paused on one of the entries. "Do you know anything about this project he mentions in here?"

"All I really know is that his colleagues know about what I can do with spirit energy," said Shinzui with a shrug, "from the sounds of it they want to study me before this predicted event. It was really strange to hear my dad get so defensive about me...maybe he does care."

"Perhaps he does," muttered Hiei absentmindedly as he poured over the book with interest. There was something odd about how the seer spoke and behaved. "By the way, Shuuichi mentioned what you told him when he walked you back to your house."

"Ah...He did?" inquired Shinzui, looking uneasy. She was embarrassed by her misstep with Kurama and she didn't like the idea of other people knowing about it.

"Yes," replied Hiei, shutting the book, "and I think you're being as idiotic as the buffoon."

"Gee, thanks," said the redhead, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Shuuichi is obviously attached to you, so he'll stick by you," stated Hiei, "you're Keiko's friend, so Yusuke will be stubborn and try to help you as well because she'll want to help. The buffoon enjoys heroics too much and is too stupid to think about the consequences."

A faint blush rose in Shinzui's cheeks at Hiei's first comment, but she also raised an eyebrow at him. "and you? Why would you help me?"

"I owe you for the demon," replied Hiei, not wanting to mention that he was being blackmailed by Kurama, "besides, it'll be something to do." He frowned slightly. "What did that boy do to get killed anyway?"

Shinzui immediately broke eye contact to stare at her lap. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Hiei opened his mouth to raise another question, but a different voice answered his previous one.

"He got in the way."

Shinzui's eyes widened and her head snapped up to look at the source of the voice. She went pale as her expression became one of complete terror. Kouken leapt to his paws and started to growl as the girl managed to stammer:

"T...Tenma."

Hiei narrowed his eyes at the intruder as he thought, _So, _this_ is the one that the girl is so afraid of? I don't see what the big deal is._

"How...How did you know I was here?" asked Shinzui in a shaky voice.

"I just knew," replied Tenma, smirking at her. He glanced at Hiei and raised an eyebrow. "You hang out with midgets now?"

"Shut up, human," growled Hiei, glaring at him, "Just leave and you won't get hurt."

"I don't plan to leave until I get back what's mine," stated Tenma, a wicked gleam in his eyes as he nodded his head in Shinzui's direction, "Like _her_ for instance."

"Y...You don't own me," muttered Shinzui, trying to rally her courage.

Tenma suddenly moved forward and grabbed the girl, whose bravery immediately began to crumble, by her arm, dragging her to her feet as he laughed.

"Don't own you?" His hand tightened around Shinzui's arm. "That mark on your back says differently."

"Let her go," said Hiei, gripping the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it.

Tenma stared at the fire demon for a moment before bursting into laughter. "You planning to get in my way, too?"

"If necessary," growled Hiei, narrowing his eyes.

Hiei would have attacked right away if Shinzui hadn't interfered with a commanding shout:

"Angriff!"

The two males paused to stare at the girl, but a split second later, it didn't matter. Kouken suddenly leapt upon the delinquent, sinking his teeth into the boy's shoulder, and the weight of the animal knocked him over. Tenma released Shinzui's arm, but grabbed on to the back of her shirt in an attempt to drag her to the ground with him. There was a ripping noise as some of the fabric was torn away and Shinzui staggered forward from the sudden absence of his weight. The star branded on her back was now exposed and the moment the tall boy caught sight of it, he started chuckling as he continued to fend off Kouken's teeth.

"Don't own you? You haven't been able to get rid of that mark have you?"

"Zurück," commanded Shinzui, trying to ignore him.

Kouken released Tenma's arm and bounded over to the girl, staying between her and the boy.

"Your conscience won't let you, will it?" chortled Tenma, sounding as though he already knew the answer, "Not after what happened the night I branded you. You _want_ to remember how you got it and _why_ it's there."

Hiei looked at the girl and saw a pained expression on her face as she knelt down and shoved the books into her backpack.

"You _want_ to remember what happened to Mamoru," continued Tenma, grinning maliciously.

"I don't!" screamed Shinzui, throwing the backpack down in frustration and putting her hands to her head, "I _don't_ want to remember!" However, she couldn't fight the tears this time.

"But you can't help it," laughed Tenma, getting to his feet, "It's not in your nature to forget such things. I don't blame you, Shinzui. He did love you after all." He shrugged with a cruel smirk on his face. "and, unfortunately for him, you returned his love."

The redhead dropped to her knees with her hands over her ears as he continued to walk toward her, repeating the taunts. Kouken snarled at the boy, baring his teeth with his hackles raised as he took a step toward Tenma.

"What?" said Tenma, looking at the dog, "Don't like the fact that I made your mistress cry?"

Quite suddenly, the boy leapt back as a sword flashed through the air in front of him, leaving a long rip on his shirt. Hiei, fed up and disgusted by such mockery, had decided to take action. Tenma raised an eyebrow at the demon and looked down at the torn fabric, which revealed a thin, bleeding gash. Instead of being fearful, he just laughed and smirked at Hiei as he spoke:

"You may be short, but you have some speed. However, you lack the powers of observation."

Hiei's attention was taken by Shinzui's sudden shriek as Reigen and Akui appeared from the shadows, grabbing her arms and hauling the girl upright. Kouken snarled at the twins and was about to launch himself at them when he got caught around the neck by the loop of a catch pole. He let out a growling bark and wriggled madly until he saw the source of the device, Kageru. The dog turned on the boy and tried to attack him, but Yosamu gave him a hard kick in the side. He yelped loudly and sunk to the ground.

"Kouken!" yelled Shinzui, struggling violently to get to her dog.

Just to spite her, Yosamu gave the canine another kick, causing Kouken to let out another yelp of pain. This turned out to be a bad idea because the moment Shinzui witnessed this, she snapped. The redhead kicked Akui hard in the crotch and, once her arm was released, drove her fist into Reigen's face, knocking the boy backwards. Free of the twins, she tackled Yosamu, hitting him hard in the midsection, and dragged him to the ground. The girl rolled off of him, returning to her feet, and sprang upon Kageru, who dropped the catch pole in surprise. Kouken wriggled his head free from the loop and pounced on Yosamu.

"Ah, her spirit is marvelous," sighed Tenma, watching the scene. He grinned malevolently at Hiei. "It was so much fun to break, too. I look forward to doing it again."

Before Hiei was able to react, Tenma lunged at him and knocked the demon off his feet with a swift punch to the face. He reeled from the blow, but recovered quickly and dodged out of the way of the boy's second attack. The two both evaded and exchanged blows, but as the fight went on, Hiei became more confused. A human was keeping up with his speed. As they backed off from each other, he delved into the power of his Jagan eye and saw that the boy was surrounded by spirit energy.

_Not only is he increasing his speed, _thought Hiei, frowning,_ But he's also hiding his aura. He's no stranger to spirit energy nor are his abilities weak._

The boy smirked with a look in his eyes that suggested he knew exactly what the fire demon was doing. Hiei's concentration on his Jagan eye was enough of a distraction to give the human boy an opening and he took it. He ran forward and metal flashed through the air as Hiei tried to dodge the attack, but he didn't escape unscathed. A blade ripped its way through his arm during the evasion and he landed on the ground several feet away, still standing, but in pain. He glared at Tenma, who smiled smugly as the light from a nearby lamp post reflected off of the long knife in his hand. What Hiei hadn't realized was that the boy had worked his way closer to where Shinzui, with the help of Kouken, was still fending off the rest of his gang, who didn't seem to be trying very hard. He grabbed her from behind, wrapping a strong arm around her torso. She found her own arms pinned to her sides in the tight grip as the boy practically crushed her against him. The fire demon started forward, but Tenma caught him.

"Ah, don't make a move midget." He put the edge of the knife to the girl's neck. "You are trying to defend her, right? It'd be bad if she got hurt." He pressed the knife a little into the girl's skin until she started to bleed. "Oops." He released the pressure with a smirk.

Hiei growled, angry that a human had gotten the better of him, but Tenma's triumphant smirk was wiped off his face when the knife was suddenly knocked out of his hand by a rock.

"What the..." said Tenma, rather surprised.

"Rude, aren't you?" inquired a voice from the shadows.

"Who the hell are you?" snapped Tenma, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Your worst nightmare," growled the voice as more trees rustled.

A figure burst from a tree behind Tenma and before he could even turn, a foot connected with the back of his head with a nasty crack, knocking him to the ground. Akui started forward, but soon stopped when the person darted at him and metal flashed through the air as an 'R' was cut into his shirt. As the boy stopped to look at the letter, a fist collided with his face and he was sent flying into a tree. The attacker then returned to where Tenma lay and cut the same letter into the back of his shirt before using a foot to grind his face into the ground. The gang was rather stunned to see their great leader lying unconscious on the ground with a short girl stomping on his head.

Now that she wasn't darting about, Hiei was able to get a better look at the tanned female. Her long, black hair, which contrasted sharply with her scruffy, white bangs, was tied back in a bun. Her red-orange eyes gazed out of the eye holes of the black mask tied around her head and they glinted with malicious intent as she fixed them on the rest of the gang. In her right hand was a sword with a long, thin blade that Hiei didn't recognize. Her entire outfit was black and looked to be of a strange origin. She hopped off the limp body of Tenma and strode over to the three boys.

"I suggest you take your fallen comrades and leave."

The three boys did so, Reigen taking Akui while the other two worked together to haul Tenma out of the park.

"Ryuka!" exclaimed Shinzui in shock as she walked toward her friend, "I can't believe you're here and..." She stopped, staring. "What in the world are you wearing?"

"Dressed in black and ready to attack," declared the short girl, looking proud as she sheathed the sword.

"You're going through a Zorro phase, aren't you," remarked Shinzui with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I am," sighed Ryuka, rolling her eyes as she took off the mask, "I can't help it. He's such a cool hero."

Kouken came bounding over to her, barking merrily in greeting.

"Hi Kouken!" said the brunette, kneeling down to pet the dog, "How are you doing?" She examined his side. "Looks like you're okay even though those jerks kicked you."

The dog barked and licked her face, leaning into the girl for more scratches.

Shinzui laughed and shook her head. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you couldn't get down here until June."

"Like hell I'm gonna miss your birthday!" declared Ryuka with her hands on her hips.

"But that's two weeks away," said Shinzui, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"Consider this an early birthday present from my parents," stated the brunette with a grin, "I'm moving here for university!"

"Really?" exclaimed Shinzui, looking thrilled.

"Yeah!" said Ryuka, nodding, "They bought me a house here and I'm finishing at a local high school, too!"

"Seriously?" asked the redhead, "They're letting you transfer so late?"

"Yeah, seriously," replied Ryuka, "Mom pulled some strings."

Hiei watched in amazement as the two girls chatted, but then Ryuka caught sight of him and looked vaguely surprised.

"Who's this?" she inquired, glancing at the redhead, "A new friend?"

"I think so," answered Shinzui, "he's a friend of those guys I wrote you about."

"Oh!" said Ryuka, hitting her fist into her hand as though remembering something, "Those guys you met through Keiko?"

"Yep," stated Shinzui with a nod.

"So what's your name?" asked the new girl, gazing at Hiei.

"Hiei," replied the fire demon, eyeing Ryuka with a wary expression, "Who are you?"

"Ryuka Taiyou," stated the brunette, pulling out her sword and doing a salute with it, "Best friend of Shinzui." She returned the blade to its sheath.

Ryuka walked over Hiei, who realized that she was a little shorter than him, and put out a hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Hiei."

He stared at the girl's hand, a bit surprised by the friendly gesture.

"You're supposed to shake it," snickered Ryuka.

"I know that," grumbled Hiei, taking her hand to shake it.

Ryuka gave him a mysterious smile. "You certainly are an interesting one."

Heat flared up between the clasped hands and Hiei quickly let go, leaping back into a defensive stance. Ryuka laughed and Shinzui rolled her eyes.

"Don't freak him out with that," sighed the redhead, shaking her head.

"Aw, but it's fun," said Ryuka with a pout, "especially when it's so obvious that he's a fire demon."

Hiei stared at Ryuka with a genuine expression of shock. "How did..."

"When your dad is an exorcist you learn to pick out demons," stated Ryuka with a shrug, "that heat you felt was just a test to find out what kind you were. I'm impressed that you restrained yourself from using your abilities against those jerks." She glanced at Hiei's bleeding arm. "Ah, I see Tenma did get you."

Ryuka took off the cape she had been wearing and tore it up into strips. She used a few of the strips to bandage Hiei's arm and handed a couple to Shinzui, so she could wrap up her neck.

Shinzui glanced at her watch and sighed. "Crap, I need to get back to the house before dad realizes I'm gone."

"Can't you come stay with me for a little bit?" begged Ryuka, "I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Well, I did check in with dad today," said Shinzui, looking thoughtful, "So long as I'm not gone for a week again he won't mind."

"I think you should sneak in and change first," suggested Ryuka, eyeing the girl's torn shirt, "Since your dad doesn't know you left I'll call you from my cellphone and we can meet up outside the gate." She looked at the bandage on Shinzui's neck. "I'd suggest adding a scarf to your next outfit."

The trio gathered Shinzui's things and she returned to her house, leaving Kouken with Ryuka and Hiei as they waited at the front gate. The redhead slipped back into her room and changed into some clean clothing, wrapping a scarf around her neck to cover the bandage. She quietly returned the journals to her father's study and packed some new clothing into her duffle along with things she would need for school. The phone rang just as she zipped the bag closed and a few moments later there was a knock on her door.

"There's a phone call for you."

It was Toraeru. Shinzui quickly hid the bag behind her bed and opened the door, putting on her best surprised face.

"For me? Who is it?"

"Your friend, Ryuka," replied Toraeru, raising an eyebrow at her, "You changed your clothes?"

"Ryuka?" exclaimed Shinzui, completely ignoring Toraeru's question as she whirled around to run to her phone, "Hello?" A huge grin spread across her face. "You're in town? Seriously? For how long?"

Toraeru stood there, looking rather stunned as he watched the girl chatter excitedly to her friend on the phone. After a couple minutes, Shinzui hung up the phone and rushed out the door, almost knocking Toraeru over.

"Hey, dad!" she called down the stairs.

"Shinzui, please don't shout in the house," sighed her father, appearing from the living room, "What is going on?"

"Ryuka's in town and she wanted to know if I could stay with her for the rest of the weekend," stated the redhead, "please, I'll be back on Monday. I promise. I haven't seen her since last August."

Shinzui was slightly taken aback when she saw that Shoushiko had a small smile on his face, but she was even more surprised by his response.

"Go see your friend. It'll do you good."

Shinzui stared at him for a moment and then smiled a little. "Thanks, dad." Inwardly she thought, _This is strange...He really means it. I like this._

The girl ran off back to her room and pretended to pack her duffle. She then bid farewell to her dad and Toraeru before leaving to return to her friends at the front gate.

"That was fast," said Ryuka in amazement.

"My dad was okay with it," stated Shinzui as she shut the gate behind her, "it's weird, but it's just like when we were in Germany. I like it."

"Maybe he's started to relax," chuckled Ryuka.

"I hope so," sighed Shinzui with a grin.

Ryuka and Shinzui set off down the street, talking about a variety of things while Hiei hung back just listening. She led them down several streets until they reached a pleasant looking, two story house that had a narrow yard on each side and a tiny front yard. The brunette lead the two inside, which led them right into a small foyer, and she flicked on the lights after securing the door behind them. Immediately, the brunette launched into a quick house tour, listing off the various things the realtor had told her.

"Large, finished basement. I'm turning half of it into a lounge with a pull out couch and the other half into a training room with a storage closet."

"I should've known you'd put in a training room," laughed Shinzui.

Ryuka grinned at her friend and continued the tour. "The attic is also finished as one large room and a small room, which I've turned into my library and storage closet." Ryuka continued to rattle off the house's assets while leading them around. "The second floor has two bathrooms and four rooms. Three are bedrooms and one is a study with a pull out couch. This floor has the kitchen, which, as you can see, opens up into the living room. It also has a half bath and a deck that goes into a small backyard. The couch in the living area is also a pull out. I think have enough beds to accommodate at least seven or eight people. More if people don't mind sharing beds."

"Oh, is that all," said Shinzui, amazed that Ryuka had memorized all of this.

"Well, I do love all the aspects of real estate," laughed the shorter girl with a shrug, "architecture, interior design, decorating, and so on."

"It's so big," remarked Shinzui, looking around the room, "Why'd your parents get you such a large house?"

"You know how they think," snickered Ryuka with a grin.

"Oh yeah," said Shinzui, "their always be prepared motto. I guess they also had a hunch you'd be housing several guests at some point."

"It's the old Taiyou family intuition," stated Ryuka in an imitation of her father's voice, "dad always talks about it. Now, let's get you a room and then we can talk."

Ryuka led the pair up the stairs and to the second room on the left. She pushed open the door and flicked on the light, looking at her friend with a grin.

"I think you'll like this one." She winked.

The room had a light gray carpet and walls painted a pale blue with vines and white roses in various stages of blooming sparsely scattered across them. The bed was tucked away in a corner next to a window seat set in a bay window and a corner desk sat to the right of the window. On the same side as the desk were a dresser and mirror along with another door that led to a walk-in closet. At the foot of the bed was a giant pillow for Kouken and there were even a few pieces of framed art on the walls. Shinzui's eyes swept around the room and she grinned at her friend before giving her a huge hug.

"You planned this decor, didn't you," said Shinzui with a laugh.

"Yep," replied Ryuka, "my family and I wanted you to know that this room is yours and only yours."

"You didn't have to," murmured Shinzui, feeling embarrassed.

"Oh, yes we did!" declared Ryuka, crossing her arms, "You're my best friend and I want you as a housemate when you graduate! I'd get lonely otherwise!"

"Ah, I've missed you, Ryuka," said Shinzui with a broad smile.

"I've missed you, too," sighed Ryuka, "you're the sister I never had, Shin." She clapped her hands together. "Now then, let's put your stuff in here and go to the living room. I'm famished and I want to have a talk with you." She suddenly remembered Hiei. "Oh, do you need a room as well?"

"No," replied the fire demon, "I already have a place."

"He's staying with Shuuichi," explained Shinzui, "I think we passed his house on our way here."

"Shuuichi?" repeated Ryuka, raising an eyebrow at her friend, "Oh yeah, the guy you fell on from the tree!"

"Thanks for reminding me," sighed the redhead, shaking her head in embarrassment.

Hiei saw a gleam in Ryuka's eyes that was similar to what he had seen in Yusuke and Botan's eyes when they watched Kurama and Shinzui talk. His suspicions were confirmed when the girl's lips curved into a teasing smile and she spoke.

"Did ya' fall _for_ him, too?"

Shinzui gave her friend a withering look, but nothing could hide the blush that had crept in her cheeks. "Don't _you_ start, too."

"Oh, so I'm not the only one who's hopeful," commented Ryuka, her grin widening.

The redhead gave a great sigh and looked at the ceiling, speaking in a dramatic tone. "Why was I cursed with such friends?"

"Oh, you love it," laughed Ryuka, heading for the stairs, "C'mon, let's order some Chinese and have a good chat."

"It's almost ten!" exclaimed Shinzui, following after her friend, "Are there any places open?"

"Yeah, there's a place in the neighborhood that stays open until midnight," replied Ryuka.

The trio gathered downstairs and Ryuka called up the restaurant with their orders. Originally, the fire demon had planned to leave after the house tour, but he was starting to feel several demon auras in traveling toward the house, so he decided to stay and monitor them. He noticed that Ryuka also seemed to sense them as well because she was a bit on edge when she answered the door for the food. Once the delivery person had left, Hiei saw the girl glance around the area with narrowed eyes before closing the door. The two girls settled on the couch with the food while Hiei sat in a cushy, green armchair that he thought to be unnecessarily large.

"So," said Ryuka, poking into her Chow Mien with chopsticks, "What's been goin' on lately? Things seem tense."

"Tense?" repeated Shinzui with a raised eyebrow, "Nah, things have been okay, aside from a few problems. I'm in a new school, made new friends, and my job is going well." She dug out a piece of beef from her fried rice.

"You mentioned you were away from home for a week earlier," stated Ryuka, "and there's no way I can ignore the fact that I saw bandages wrapping around your back. What happened?"

"It's not my back that's injured," explained the redhead, "I just have some injuries on my chest that are still healing and it's just easier to have the bandages wrap around my body instead of dealing with tape."

"How'd you get hurt?" inquired Ryuka, frowning.

"I got attacked by a demon," replied Shinzui, "a _demon_ of all things! I still don't understand _why_ they came after me!"

"They?" said Ryuka, looking surprised, "There was more than one."

"Well, there was the first one in the park," answered Shinzui, "then another one attacked while I was staying at Shuuichi's house."

"Oh, you stayed at _Shuuichi's_ house?" asked Ryuka, wearing her impish grin again.

"We're getting off subject," stated the redhead, rolling her eyes.

"Fine, I'll bug you about it later," snickered Ryuka, "so what kind of demons were they?"

Shinzui twitched as she thought about it, but all she said was: "Baseball."

This completely confused Hiei. _What does that human sport have to do with demons?_

"Oh, I see," said Ryuka, who understood the code word, "How strange. Why would demons be after you?"

"That's what I just said!" exclaimed Shinzui, resisting the impulse to throw her hands up to avoid sending her food airborne, "I've done nothing! Then suddenly, BAM! There's some demon there jabbering about some person named Koumori!"

Ryuka choked on her noodles and both Hiei and Shinzui stared at her as she coughed and drank some water to wash the food down.

"Are you okay?" asked Shinzui, looking startled.

"I'm fine," said Ryuka hoarsely, clearing her throat, "Just surprised. A demon was specifically after _you_?"

"Yeah, it's really weird," grumbled Shinzui, stabbing her chopsticks into her food.

"I don't see why they'd be interested in you," remarked Ryuka, shrugging, "You've never met demons before. How'd you catch their interest?"

"I know!" said Shinzui, sounding exasperated, "I think they got the wrong person."

"Indeed," murmured Ryuka, glancing at Hiei, "Hey, you plannin' to stay the night?"

"No, I should get back," replied Hiei, getting up from the chair, "Is this house secure?"

As Ryuka and Shinzui saw him to the door, the former responded to his question:

"Oh, it's plenty secure. My dad made sure of that. Well, then, I thank you for looking after Shin and have a pleasant night."

"Yeah, thank you," said the redhead with a friendly smile.

"It was something to do," muttered Hiei, leaving through the open door.

As the door closed, Hiei heard a snippet of their conversation:

"Is he always like that?" inquired Ryuka.

"Seems so," snickered Shinzui with a shrug, "don't be offended. I think that's just the way he expresses himself."

The girls returned to their food while Hiei wandered down the stairs. When he glanced back, the fire demon took note of the invisible wards around the house and guessed that Ryuka had set them up to keep out uninvited demons. He didn't have too far to walk before he came upon Kurama's house and let himself in, heading straight to his bedroom with the decision to talk to the fox in the morning.

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Zurück - return (German)

Defenestration - The action of throwing someone or something out of a window. (It's my favorite word and I just had to use it once XD)

Yes, Ryuka is going through a Zorro phase. I wrote that part of the chapter as I was watching The Mask of Zorro. XD And yes, she does have an obsession with anything and everything involved in housing and real estate. She's a fun character to write because she's far less reserved than Shinzui and she can be quite eccentric at times.

It's pretty obvious that I originally made Ryuka specifically for Hiei. Yeah, she came into being because I wanted to make someone for him, but since I first wrote this story, she's become her own person. I'd still love to pair her with Hiei (I blame the crazed hopeless romantic that resides within me), but I haven't figured out why _he'd_ like _her_ (I know why she'd like him XD), for now I'll just work on creating a friendship.

I really enjoy having Hiei never use Shinzui's actual name when he refers to her. XD It's so much fun.


	10. Tranquility Thy Name Is Not Morning Jog

Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakusho characters and world stuff belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. All original characters and stuff belong to me. The two T-shirt sayings belong to the catalogue I found them in called "What On Earth."

Author's Notes: First off, I changed the dividers because the site is fickle about asterisks (it's also cranky about being mentioned in notes. The site deleted its name in my chapter). Hopefully, it won't delete the number symbols. I may eventually fix the other chapters, but it doesn't seem to bother people and it could just be my particular internet application, so it won't be happening any time soon.

Second - I am back from my long break. I've successfully moved out of my apartment (kinda, I still have stuff in a storage unit in Kirksville, but that will be remedied eventually) and I've finally graduated, though it won't be official until I get the diploma.

That's all. Hope you enjoy the chapter. =D

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Shinzui was up early the next morning and decided to go for a run to clear her head of all the new information she had gained. She braided her hair before changing into track pants and a T-shirt, slipping a keychain and house key from Ryuka into her pocket. She wandered across the hall to see if her friend was awake only to find that the brunette was still fast asleep and Shinzui knew better than to wake her up unless it was an emergency. She went back to her room and grabbed her mp3 player off its charger along with its case and a pair of headphones. The redhead quietly slipped downstairs and left the house after putting on her sneakers. She took a deep breath and put on the headphones, selecting an energetic playlist of songs on the player before putting it in the case, which she secured to her waistband with its clip.

_I've missed this, _thought the girl with a faint smile as she set off at a moderate speed,_ The peace of a morning jog. I've been so tired lately that I haven't been able to do it._

The headphones created a disadvantage because she didn't hear the voice of a man speaking into a cellphone as he hid near the house:

"The kid's on the move. You were right to guess she would go for a run."

"It's part of her regular routine," said a voice on the other end, "it's been disrupted as of late, but now she'll try to restore normality. Call the others and continue."

"Yes, sir," said the other person, sidling out from behind a tree.

The strangers weren't the only ones Shinzui caught the eye of. Kurama saw her go by his kitchen window as he washed dishes. He frowned slightly when he noticed fresh bandages around the girl's neck, which Hiei had neglected to tell him about when they discussed the previous night's events over breakfast. The frown deepened when he noticed that there were men in suits following the girl, darting out of sight every so often. The fox cracked the window open to listen when one stopped nearby to speak into a cellphone like a walkie talkie.

"Yeah, Shoushiko's kid is still on the same street, but it looks like she just turned left up the main street. Should I have the men set up? You'll do it yourself? Yes, sir. I will call the others to let them know." He punched a few buttons before speaking again. "The stage is set, guys. Let's go."

"Looks like those humans from yesterday are making their move," said a voice next to Kurama.

The redhead was not entirely surprised to see that Hiei had appeared as the man ran off.

"Shall we trail them?" inquired Kurama, looking at the fire demon.

"You can," replied Hiei, "there's nothing interesting about these humans."

Kurama rolled his eyes and left the house to follow the men, slowing down once he caught up with them. With amusement he noted that Hiei, despite his words, had come with him, using trees and rooftops for cover. Meanwhile, Shinzui was still jogging down the sidewalk, enjoying the music of her player as she traveled along the block. She suddenly came to a stop when she saw her father's colleagues standing next to a car with several men in black suits, arguing about something.

_Crap, I don't want to deal with those guys, _thought the girl, glancing around,_ After what I heard yesterday who knows what they're planning. _Her eyes fell on a nearby alley._ Aha! Exit stage left._

Shinzui ducked into the alley, hoping the men hadn't seen her and ran toward the other side. The route was suddenly cut off when a black car appeared at the other end, driving right at her. She scrambled to turn and went back the other way only to stop again when another car blocked her path. She heard a screech as the first car came to a halt in the alley behind her and several men in black suits got out. Shinzui glanced back at them before glaring at the people who appeared at the front of the alley.

_Dammit! I walked right into this one, _thought the girl angrily, pulling off her headphones,_ I should've known right away! These men have been around me all my life. They know my habits and the way I think. I can't believe I didn't realize this was a set up! God, I'm such an idiot!_

"A bit trapped are we, Miss Ookami?" asked Yamai, looking smug.

"Nothing a fight won't fix," growled Shinzui, stuffing her headphones into one of her pockets, "I've taken on these types of goons before. Your men suck." She shifted into an attack stance, getting for a brawl.

The redhead froze when she heard a series of clicks and looked back to see all the suited men pointed guns at her. _Shit, they're really serious about this,_ she thought as her confidence changed to anxiety, _how the hell am I going to get out of this?_

"I'd stay put if I were you," said Gaidoku, smirking, "All these guns are loaded with tranquilizers. You'd be out before you took five steps."

"Sounds good to me," said Shinzui, attempting to hide her panic by feigning a casual tone as she shrugged, "I could use more sleep."

"Take a good look around you before making your choice, Miss Ookami," said Yamai, "it's the last time you'll see the outside for a while."

"Hmm, this _is_ a tough choice," stated Shinzui, using sarcasm to cover the nervous quiver in her voice, "I either go with you _willingly_ and _not_ get tranked or I defend myself, _get_ tranked, and _then_ go with you. What a dilemma." She shrugged and gave a sigh. "I guess my mind is made up."

"What is your decision?" inquired Baikin, looking excited.

"Seriously, what choice to I have?" growled the girl, glaring at him, "I'd rather not be pumped full of chemicals." She paused and looked thoughtful. "Then again, do I really want to be conscious in such an undesirable situation?"

"What do you mean?" asked the short man, frowning a bit.

"You three for company?" snorted Shinzui, shaking her head, "I think I'd rather be tranked."

"Enough," said Yamai cooly, "do you plan to come quietly or not?"

_There's really no way out of this,_ thought the girl. She sighed as she responded. "I'll be quiet. Regardless of how unpleasant you idiots are, I believe I'd rather be awake if you're going to be around."

"Smart choice," remarked Yamai, nodding a bit, "You have more common sense than that father of yours. Come along then."

Shinzui shoved her hands into her pockets and grudgingly approached the men, keeping a neutral expression as her mind raced to find a way to escape. When she was a foot from the trio, a commotion broke out behind them and she turned to see the armed men drop to the ground. Their weapons were sliced in half and something had knocked them out. As the main group stared in shock at the sight before them, the girl felt something rush by her and the guards around the car began to crumple to the ground with their disabled weapons. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a familiar form appear in front of the guard next to her for a split second before blurring out of sight again. The man collapsed unconscious, pieces of his gun scattered around him.

_Oh god, I'm hallucinating,_ thought Shinzui, rubbing her eyes a bit as her panicked mind continued to babble,_ I thought I saw...That looked like...Was that Hiei? No, it couldn't have been. My eyes are playing tricks on me. He wouldn't be around here. _She shook her head and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself so she could think straight.

"Let's get out of here," said Gaidoku, eyes narrowed.

The man grabbed Shinzui's upper arm, but without the threat of being tranked, she was now able to act. Quickly, she pulled a small canister out of her pocket and pressed down on the top of the nozzle as she pointed it at Gaidoku's face. A spray of liquid hit him in the eyes and he let go of her, putting his hands to his face as he staggered back, yelling:

"My eyes!"

Shinzui immediately moved away from the other two men and leapt on to the hood of the car, holding up the item. "Mace is such a marvelous invention, isn't it. You'll have spicy eyes for several hours." She shoved the small can in her pocket. "Ryuka told me to be ready for an ambush, but I really didn't expect things to happen so soon. Auf wiedersehen, Dummköpfe."

The redhead turned and jumped to the sidewalk, taking off down the street at a dead run. She heard a shout behind her and stopped, looking back to see a flailing Gaidoku making angry gestures as he yelled at what he thought were the remaining minions. In reality, it was a tree, which felt no desire to obey the floundering human.

"You idiots! After her!"

Yamai shook his head and turned to the two cars parked behind theirs and was obviously relaying the order in a more civilized manner.

_Wow, they really want to catch me, _mused Shinzui as she heard the car engines start, _this looks like a job for a hiding place._ She quickly turned and ran down the street again.

The girl flew past the alley that Kurama was hiding in and, not seeing him, disappeared around the corner before he could call out. He heard the screech of tires and turned to see two cars speeding down the hill after their fleeing target. The fox quickly produced a rose from his hair and turned it into a thorny whip as he slipped behind a tree. When the cars got closer, he threw the weapon on to the street in front of them. The first car ran over the thorny whip, flattening all four tires, and went skidding into a wall of bushes at the bottom of the street. The whip also worked on the second car, which was following too closely to have time to avoid it, and it crashed into the first car. Several of the men got out of the cars and the two groups split up, some staying with the injured, while others continued after Shinzui.

"At least it slowed them down," commented Hiei from the tree, "she has a lead of about two blocks."

While the pair resumed their pursuit of the men, Shinzui had found an alley with several dumpsters, trash cans, and other discarded items. She heard shouts and quickly ran into it to secure a hiding place. When the men got to the location, their quarry had completely disappeared. Not deterred, they started turning trash cans over and digging through the dumpsters in an attempt to find her, but when they came up with nothing, the group gave up and returned to their search of the neighborhood. When Kurama reached the spot, he noticed that Hiei had stopped and stood by the alley, eyes scanning the area before him.

"Why did you stop?" asked the fox, walking up to the fire demon.

"Wait for a few minutes," stated Hiei, glancing at him.

Knowing that Hiei wouldn't delay a chase for something meaningless, Kurama sighed and leaned against the wall. Almost half an hour passed before he saw what his friend had been waiting for. Several trash bags rose up and fell to one side as a grate was pushed open. The faint odor of dead fish that lingered around the hole became stronger when Shinzui, soaked and covered in bits of muck, hauled herself out of the sewer below with a gasp.

"Dear lord!" She pushed the grate shut. "That was disgusting!" She shook her arms to get some of the slimy mud off them. "I'm glad none of them decided to try the grate. They probably thought it was too heavy for me." She made a face at the smell. "Ugh. The things a person will do to not be found." She turned and was startled to see Hiei and Kurama. "Oh...Hi...Um... How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to see that you got into trouble again," stated Hiei.

"I swear, trouble found me!" protested Shinzui, putting her hands on her hips, "I don't go around looking for it!"

"I don't believe Hiei meant to offend you," remarked Kurama in a calm voice.

"Oh, I'm not offended," said Shinzui, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. She sighed ran a hand through her hair, grimacing at the slime that stuck to it. She looked at Hiei as she tried to wipe it off on her wet shirt. "That was you who helped me back there wasn't it."

Hiei didn't look at her, obviously not wanting to admit that he had willingly helped a human.

Shinzui raised an eyebrow at him, but then shrugged and shook her head. "Never mind. I don't really need an answer. I rather doubt there are many people who can move that fast and slice up guns at the same time." She smiled at him. "Thanks."

The fire demon said nothing and suddenly vanished.

The girl blinked and looked at Kurama. "Does he just not like me?"

"He doesn't like to admit to helping people, especially humans," chuckled Kurama, "he sort of has a reputation to uphold."

"Ah, that makes sense," said Shinzui, nodding, "well, time to see if I can get back to Ryuka's without running into more trouble."

"Would you like an escort back?" inquired Kurama.

"You don't have to go out of your way," replied Shinzui quickly, "besides..." She looked at herself, feeling embarrassed. "I kind of stink."

"Hiei told me that your friend's house is only a few blocks from my own," stated Kurama, "it's not out of the way at all."

"Thank you," said the girl, smiling, "company would be nice."

Hiei rejoined the two redheads as they made their way to Ryuka's house and while the group did see a few suited men watching them, it was obvious none would approach while the two demons were with her. Shinzui, who was thankful that she hadn't lost her key during her scramble into the sewer, let the boys into the dwelling and immediately disappeared upstairs to take a shower. She grabbed her robe and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. After ridding herself of the soaked clothes, she set to taking a long shower and went through multiple washings to try to rid herself of the smell. As she scrubbed herself for what felt like the millionth time, there was a knock on the door and Ryuka called out.

"Hey, Fish Girl! Care to let someone else share the joy of being clean?"

"Don't call me that," muttered Shinzui, smelling her hair make sure the fish odor was gone, "I think I've taken enough showers to last me for a year." She turned the water off, got out, and started to dry herself off.

"Yeah?" said Ryuka from the other side of the door, "Well, I can still smell it in the hallway."

Shinzui wrapped up her hair and pulled the robe on. "That's my clothing." She tied the belt of the robe and opened the door.

"Rough morning, Shin?" inquired Ryuka in an annoyingly cheerful tone.

Shinzui glowered at her. "Ya' think?"

"Hey, we'll get to the bottom of this and make it stop," said the brunette placatingly, "In the mean time, I hope you didn't use all the hot water."

"There should still be some left," replied Shinzui with a shrug, "are you just getting up?"

"Yeah, I haven't even had breakfast," answered Ryuka with a yawn.

"Me neither," said Shinzui, wandering toward her room, "By the way, we have some guests downstairs. Hiei and Shuuichi."

"So I finally get to meet _the_ Shuuichi," teased her friend.

Shinzui sighed and shut her door on Ryuka's wicked grin and laughter. The redhead replaced any wet bandages before changing into a pair of blue-gray, knit pants and black shirt with large, white letters stating: 'Chaos reigns' with 'Mission accomplished' in smaller letters underneath it. After brushing and braiding her hair, the girl left her room, heading toward the stairs to go back to the living room. Ryuka met her in the hallway, holding a towel that was wrapped around something with an expression of disgust on her face.

"Your clothes," stated Ryuka, twitching a bit and looking faintly green, "I think you might want to wash them before the smell becomes permanent. There's a washer and dryer in the basement. The detergent and dryer sheets are in the small closet next to the machines."

"Thanks," said Shinzui, making a face as she took the bundle, "If I can't wash the smell out, I'll have to burn them."

"Just don't do it in the house," commented Ryuka, disappearing into her room.

Shinzui rolled her eyes and went downstairs where she found Kurama reading the newspaper and Hiei staring out the window.

"Ryuka's up," said Shinzui, "she should be down soon. I need to get these clothes in the wash before they stink up the house."

While the redhead got her laundry started in the basement, Ryuka joined the boys in the living room. She wore jeans and a deep green shirt with yellow words that said: 'No one ever suspects the short ones.' Hiei raised an eyebrow at the shirt and Kurama was amused, which pleased the girl.

"Good, you have a sense of humor," chuckled Ryuka with a friendly smile, "I'm Ryuka Taiyou."

"Shuuichi Minamino," stated Kurama, shaking her hand.

There was a strange spark between their hands that made Kurama draw his back in surprise.

"Hmm, you're an interesting one, too," remarked Ryuka, looking him up and down, "but you are a demon. Is Shinzui aware of this?"

Kurama was shocked by these words, but it was Hiei who replied.

"She doesn't. Your friend figured me out because of my abilities, but she doesn't know about him."

"I'll keep it quiet then," said Ryuka with a smile, focusing on Kurama, "you must have your reasons, but you will have to tell her eventually."

"Tell me what?"

Shinzui surprised the group by appearing at the doorway that led to the basement.

"He left his house without having breakfast," replied Ryuka without skipping a beat, "c'mon, Shin, let's make some food for our guests."

"Oh, okay," said Shinzui, frowning slightly, "Yes, you should've told me. I would've showed you the kitchen so you could get something to eat."

"It's fine," said Kurama, "I didn't really think about it until now."

Ryuka dragged Shinzui to the kitchen and the two set about making a breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Kouken, who had obviously been awakened by the smell of food, soon joined them and sat in the kitchen with a begging look until Shinzui put some eggs and bacon into a bowl with some left over white rice. Once they finished cooking, the girls served up four plates of food and poured some drinks. The group ate their breakfast in peace and chatted about the morning events.

"You're probably one of the few people in the world wishing for a less interesting life," laughed Ryuka.

"So it's _bad_ to wish there weren't people after me?" asked Shinzui in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, such a bad mood," remarked Ryuka, rolling her eyes with a smile.

"Sorry," sighed Shinzui, resting her chin in her hand, "Too much has been happening lately. New school, new friends, which isn't so bad." At this she glanced at Kurama with a small smile, but then she looked back to the table top with a sigh. "Then again, there are also new crazies after me _and_ I just found out my dad lied about how my mother died."

"What was that last one?" asked Ryuka, frowning.

Shinzui was silent for a few moments, looking rather listless, and finally spoke after taking a deep breath to speak. "My mom didn't die when I was born." Her downcast eyes were focused on the table. "She died when I was five."

"How...How did she die?" inquired Ryuka in a quiet voice.

"Oh, it was still my fault," replied Shinzui, sitting back in the chair as she wrapped her arms around herself, "According to my father's journal, there was some sort of spell or something that a woman named Kotori asked her to do on me. I've never heard of or met this Kotori, so I don't know what the connection is. All I know is that it killed her. The way he put it was that she died for the sake of my stability...Whatever that means." She sighed. "Master Genkai and the Chikaras knew about it, too. For some reason they thought it was better to cover it up."

"They were right," stated Ryuka, sipping her orange juice.

"How can it be right?" snapped Shinzui, rising from her chair so fast she knocked it over, "How is it right to hide that information from me?"

This complete change in her demeanor startled Kurama, but Hiei seemed to expect this behavior.

"You were _five_, Shin," stated Ryuka in a firm, yet calm voice, setting her glass down, "Would _you_ expect a five-year-old to understand that situation? The child would end up blaming themselves."

"How is telling the kid that their mother died in childbirth any better?" exclaimed Shinzui angrily, slamming her fist on the table, "That still brings blame on the child for the mother's death!"

"Your father was in the wrong with that decision," said Ryuka, unmoved by her friend's rage, "but it's possible that he had to come up with something fast, so he didn't think it through."

"It wasn't just him, Ryuka!" yelled Shinzui, "Master Genkai _and_ the Chikaras were there! They knew about it and they went with his charade! It's too weird." She put her hands to her head. "If I was five when she died, I should have memories, but I don't have any! My memories match what they've all told me, yet I find this complete contradiction in my father's journal! I trusted them and now I find out they've been lying to me all these years! How can that be the right decision?"

She went to slam her fist into the table again, but Ryuka stood and caught her wrist, speaking in a stern tone as she kept a strong grip on her friend's arm.

"Don't you dare break my table, Shinzui Ookami. You need to calm down. Go to your room and think about this rationally. Take some time to chill."

"You are _not_ my mother!" growled the redhead, glaring at her friend as she yanked her arm free.

"No, indeed I am not," said the brunette placidly, "but I take it upon myself to stand in for her right now." She fixed her friend with a firm stare. "Go. Stay up there until you've cooled down and please don't destroy anything."

Clentching her fists tightly, Shinzui turned on her heel and stormed away in a huff with Kouken trotting after her. Ryuka closed her eyes and let out a long sigh, returning to her chair as she heard a door slam upstairs.

"You handled that well," remarked Hiei, raising an eyebrow.

"I've had to do that many times before," stated Ryuka, shaking her head, "but she's right about too much going on. Most of which I'm still in the dark about. Shin is overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated. That tends to lead to outbursts like this." She looked at the boys with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry you saw Shin's bad side. She works so hard to keep it hidden."

"Would she have really broken the table?" inquired Kurama.

"Oh yeah," sighed the brunette, "she can be quite destructive when she's angry. It's a bad habit we share."

The fox glanced at the stairs for a moment. "How much time will she need to calm down?"

"Not too long," answered Ryuka with a small smile, "Shin's outbursts may get ugly at times, but she also has a strong guilty conscience, so she'll be rational again soon. Venting her emotions like this is better for her than she thinks." The girl seemed a bit satisfied. "Much of the time it's the only way to get an understanding of what's bothering her."

"What do you mean?" inquired the fox, frowning slightly.

"I know she's been brooding about those books since yesterday," stated Ryuka, crossing her arms with a look of frustration, "but she wouldn't talk about it. Provoking her is usually the best way to get her to speak her mind. Hell, sometimes it's the _only_ way to get her to talk to me about sensitive subjects." She sighed, looking somber. "Well, I think her negative emotions have had enough stimulation." She smiled at Kurama. "Perhaps you could provide a distraction for her."

"Me?" said Kurama, blinking in surprise, "Why me?"

"I don't know whether you're thick or just in denial like Shin," said Ryuka, looking at him with an odd mixture of annoyance and amusement, "No matter. You'll be a good diversion either way."

"Well, I could ask her to translate another line of her letter," said Kurama, looking thoughtful.

"Her letter?" repeated the brunette, raising an eyebrow.

"We were pen-pals while she was in Germany," replied the redhead.

Ryuka stared at him for a moment, rather surprised and then a look of realization swept on to her face. "Oh! _You're_ Shuu!" She grinned. "Well, that certainly makes things easier."

"She's like Yusuke and Botan," remarked Hiei.

Before the fire demon spoke, Kurama had already understood why Ryuka was suddenly grinning at him with such a pleased expression and his face turned faintly red. Ryuka laughed while Hiei looked mildly amused.

"Hey, you two get along and a stable relationship would be good for Shin," remarked the girl with her hands on her hips, "well, let's clear the table and go see if the moody teenager has calmed down." She started to collect the dirty plates.

The trio took a few minutes to clean up the kitchen and rinse the dishes. Once the dishwasher was loaded and running, Ryuka led the boys up to Shinzui's room and knocked on the door, but it took a few minutes and a second knock to get an answer.

"Kommen Sie herein."

"I think that means come in," said Ryuka, glancing at the other two with a shrug, "I never really learned the language."

The short girl opened the door to find the redhead sitting at the window seat with her back against the bit of wall that was there. She had her knees drawn up with a sketchpad resting on them and her eyes were on the paper as she drew. Shinzui didn't look at them until Ryuka cleared her throat, but instead of giving them a look of annoyance, she just looked a bit dazed.

"I'm glad you were just ignoring us because of concentration instead of anger," remarked her friend with a smile.

Shinzui closed her eyes with a sigh and set her sketchpad aside. "Sorry about that. I know it's no excuse, but I've just been feeling so overwhelmed lately that it's driving me nuts."

"Meh, at least you haven't punched the wall," said Ryuka with a shrug.

"You heard about that?" asked Shinzui, looking embarrassed.

"Heard about what?" inquired Ryuka, raising an eyebrow, "I just remember the last time you lost your temper during an argument." She snorted and grinned. "Who's wall did you damage?"

"The brick one in front of my house," replied Shinzui, sighing again.

"Fight with your dad?" asked Ryuka.

"Yeah," muttered the redhead, "it was bad. I threw a chair through the window, too."

Ryuka burst out laughing.

"Shut up," said Shinzui sulkily, "I was aiming for Toraeru and he dodged."

"You need to pick up some less destructive habits," chortled the brunette, trying in vain to quiet her laughter, "Next time you get mad, come over here and take on a few rounds with the punching bag. That should do the trick. I ordered them in bulk, so you can destroy as many as you want." She took a breath, finally calming her giggles. "Anyway, do you have a lot of homework?"

"No, I finished it yesterday," answered Shinzui, standing up and stretching.

"Good," said Ryuka with a grin, "then we're going to adjourn to Shuuichi's house. I think he wants to work on the letter a bit more."

"Oh, sure," said Shinzui, smiling, "That'd be nice."

Shinzui picked up her messenger bag and stuck the sketching supplies into its large pocket. The four went downstairs, put on their shoes, and left the house with Kouken following after them. Once the door was locked, the group set off down the street in the direction of Kurama's house. Upon reaching the building, the two redheads went up to Kurama's room to work on the letter while Hiei and Ryuka sat downstairs. The pair sat quietly for several minutes until the female finally broke the silence.

"So, you gonna tell me what's been goin' on?"

"What do you mean?" asked Hiei, looking at her.

"There are definitely some elements missing from Shin's accounts of what's taken place recently," answered Ryuka, turning to gaze at him, "She managed to use raw spirit energy, didn't she." This was more of a statement than a question.

"She didn't tell you?" said Hiei, frowning.

"I'm not surprised," sighed Ryuka, shrugging, "She knows I can use spirit energy and I know about her ability with plants, but she's never admitted to me that she uses spirit energy to do it. I think she's scared of her powers, which also doesn't surprise me considering what happened when she _was_ able to use them properly."

"So, you know what she's forgotten," remarked Hiei, eyeing the girl with suspicion.

"Oh, don't go all cautious on me," snorted Ryuka, rolling her eyes, "Of course I know. I've been her friend since we were kids. How could I _not_ know what went on? She wrote to me about everything."

"She said you lived in Hokkaido," said Hiei, "how did you meet?"

"Except for when she lived in Germany, her family always came to Hokkaido during school breaks," replied the girl, leaning back into the sofa, "We met, became friends, and started writing each other. Since I was the daughter of a priest, she wasn't afraid to ask me about demons."

"When did she start asking you about demons?" asked the fire demon.

"A little over five years ago," answered Ryuka, fixing him with a steady gaze, "That's _why_ I know what went on. She didn't tell me everything, but I did know that she had gotten involved in something where she needed a lot of information on demons. Then one day, it just stopped. She no longer wrote about demons and was clueless when I asked about the situation. I have no idea what happened...though she did mention something about a bus accident, but such selective memory loss doesn't fit..."

Ryuka sounded completely sincere, but Hiei felt like there was something she was leaving out. However, no matter how much he persisted, the girl was able to derail his line of questions without slipping. Soon their conversation settled on a discussion of abilities. While Hiei and Ryuka had been talking, Kurama and Shinzui had retrieved the old letter and the latter translated the next line.

"Ich wette, Sie fragen sich, warum ich sage, dass ich nicht mehr schreiben, aber keine Sorge, es ist eine gute Nachricht." She smiled at the sentence and pointed at each word as she spoke the translation. "I bet you are wondering why I am saying that I do not write more, but do not worry, it is good news."

"You were teasing me in this letter, weren't you," chuckled Kurama.

"I wanted to keep you in suspense just in case you _were_ good enough with German to translate it yourself," stated Shinzui with a laugh.

"This next line talks about writing, too," said Kurama, pointing at a word in the next sentence, "Schreiben. That means to write, correct?"

"Yep," said Shinzui, smiling, "Oh, I'll just translate the next one. It's not very long." She read off the letter. "Bald werden wir nicht haben, Briefe zu schreiben, um zu kommunizieren." Then she spoke the translation. "Soon we will not have to write letters in order to communicate."

"You _really_ wanted me to be in suspense," remarked Kurama, amused by the sentence.

"You were fun to confuse," laughed Shinzui, "you always seemed to know everything, so it was hilarious to see those rare moments when you were completely stumped."

"I see the word Japan in the next sentence," said the fox, looking at the words, "Is there a German word for Japan?"

"No, it's spelled the same way it is in English," replied Shinzui with a shrug, "it is pronounced a bit differently. The letter J is pronounced more like a Y. However, I've already translated _two_ sentences for you, so the next one will have to wait for another day."

Shinzui slipped the letter back into the folder with the translation she was writing down and put it back in the box. Kurama's gaze was drawn to the scars on the girl's palms, which he had seen when she was staying at the house, but he had never asked her about them. He caught her hands and turned them over to look at the palms, surprising her so much that she didn't react past blushing.

"How did you get these?" asked Kurama, moving his eyes to look at the girl.

"Oh...Um...I..." stammered Shinzui as she pulled her hands away, looking uncomfortable, "I don't know."

"They look more like birthmarks," commented the fox, frowning, "Like the ones on your face. They aren't raised or depressed like regular scars."

"Well, _this_ one," said Shinzui, tapping her left cheek, "_is_ a birthmark. The other one..." She touched her right cheek. "I thought it was also a birthmark until I remembered that when I was little I didn't have it. I don't know where it came from either, but it seems identical to the left, which is weird." She shrugged and sighed. "Every time I try to think about how I might've gotten them I hit a blank spot, which means it happened in that timeframe I've forgotten. I don't know why they look the way they do either. Maybe they just healed strangely."

"The only time I've seen scars turn out like this is when healing wasn't done properly," murmured Kurama, frowning.

"I thought scars turn out _worse_ if the medical treatment wasn't done well," stated Shinzui, sounding a bit disbelieving.

"Not medical treatment," explained Kurama, shaking his head, "_Healing_. Spirit energy can be used to heal. If it's not done properly sometimes the skin is left with what is essentially a scar, but not quite the same as what you would get from natural healing with medical treatment. The pigment cells in the new skin change and become either permanently darkened or lightened." He looked thoughtful. "However, sometimes injuries caused by spirit energy can leave a scar regardless of what method you use for treatment."

"So, either way I was exposed to spirit energy somehow," said Shinzui, hoping she understood the meaning.

"Indeed," said Kurama, nodding, "What are you thinking?"

"That I was involved in something _weird_ during those years," replied the girl with a shrug, "maybe I _don't_ want to remember." Her expression showed that she was trying to make light of the situation, but her eyes looked troubled. "I have enough going on as it is."

"Sorry to add to your troubles," commented the fox, feeling rather guilty.

"Don't apologize," sighed Shinzui, waving her hand in a dismissive manner, "Yes, it bothers me a bit, but you helped me figure out a clue to my past. I was exposed to spirit energy that probably wasn't mine, which means..." She paused for a moment. "Actually, I'm not sure what it means yet, but it's a start." She chuckled a bit and smiled. "You've done nothing wrong. In fact, you've done a lot right."

"What do you mean?" inquired Kurama, a bit confused.

Shinzui looked at the boy and sat down on the bed with a shrug. "I'm not sure how to explain it. I haven't had many healthy relationships with people. Most of them have been either toxic or nonexistent. At least a third of my healthy relationships were mostly through letters, Ryuka being the exception because we could visit each other. My father won't let me leave the country, so I can't visit my friends in Germany. I don't really get to see my coworkers much outside of work and the Chikaras are more like aunts and uncles than normal friends while Master Genkai was like a tough grandmother." She sighed. "Even though I haven't known you and your friends for very long...You guys have been..." She searched for the right word. "Consistent, I guess. No matter what has happened you won't back down and you..." She gestured to him. "You saw right through my attempt to distance you and countered with reassurance. I'm not used to that. It's like nothing scares you guys."

"We have our fears," commented Kurama, "but we're all stubborn, too. It's rare that fear prevents us from acting. We also support each other."

"I guess that's what I've been missing," murmured Shinzui, gazing at the floor, "I've been fighting most of my battles by myself with distant support. Sometimes I was antagonized from multiple fronts. After a while, I stopped asking for help because it just seemed so useless." She flopped on her back on the bed with a hand over her eyes. "I get tired just thinking about it." She sighed and looked at Kurama. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't unload all my troubles on you."

"I don't mind at all," stated Kurama, walking around to sit on the other side of the bed, "Your troubles are some of the more interesting I've heard in a long time. If I were going to focus on psychology, you'd make a wonderful dissertation paper."

Shinzui shifted her hand so she could shoot an irritated glare at him and, for a moment, Kurama thought he shouldn't have made a joke, but then her face broke into a smile and she started to laugh. She used the back of her hand to hit him gently on the arm and shook her head, continuing her laughter. He smiled, quite pleased that he had managed to cheer her up. The girl eventually calmed her giggles and sighed, still grinning at him.

"You're sweet," commented Shinzui, poking him in the arm, "Thank you. I needed that." She sighed again, closing her eyes as she turned her head toward the ceiling. "Ah, it feels good to just lie here and have a good laugh. Very relaxing."

"Feeling better?" inquired Kurama with a chuckle.

"Much better," chuckled the girl, smiling at him again. Then she sat up and gazed at his face. "God, you're so much like him."

"Who?" asked Kurama, raising an eyebrow.

"The one who helped me when I hit rock bottom," replied Shinzui, closing her eyes with a soft expression and a sigh, "I miss him."

"What happened to him?" inquired the fox, curious.

Shinzui's face suddenly became sad as she opened her eyes and bowed her head. "He's gone."

The girl's voice was so quiet that Kurama almost didn't hear the answer, but he understood the expression. It was the same pained look she wore when she talked about her mother. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Shinzui put her hand over his and looked at him with a rather unreadable expression. Quite suddenly, there was a knock on the door, which not only broke the silence that had persisted for several minutes, but also startled the two redheads back to reality.

"Hey, Shuuichi," came Ryuka's voice, "you have visitors at the door."

Kurama opened the door and noticed that Ryuka was wearing a wicked grin.

"I hope I didn't _interrupt_ anything," chuckled the brunette.

"We were just talking," stated Kurama, quickly moving past the girl so she wouldn't see the blush rising on his face, "I'll get the door."

Ryuka poked her head into the room and laughed at Shinzui's red face. "Hmm. Maybe I should've just barged in to see what you were doing."

"It was only a conversation," snorted Shinzui, crossing her arms.

"Nah, I can tell you really like him, Shin," chortled Ryuka, sidling over to pat her friend on the head.

"Shut up," grumbled Shinzui, frowning at her, "there's no way I'm ready to even think about such things." She looked away. "You should know that."

Ryuka's smile faded. "Oh, jeez...I'm sorry." She hesitated for a few moments. "but it has been _five_ months..." She trailed off.

"You think that's long enough to get over a death?" inquired Shinzui calmly as she gazed at her friend the a neutral expression.

The brunette sighed and shook her head. "Sorry. Look...Let's just go downstairs and see who's here."

"Yeah, let's go," said Shinzui, standing up.

The girls were halfway down the stairs when a shout caught there attention.

"Shinzui!"

The pair looked up and the redhead grinned when she saw Keiko standing there with Yusuke, Kuwabara, Yukina, and Botan. Also with them was a tall, young woman with light brown hair and brown eyes. She was looking at the two girls with mild interest. Ryuka met the gaze of the woman and smiled while Shinzui felt a bit rattled by the stranger's stare. Ignoring this feeling, she said her greetings to the group while her friend hung back, observing them.

"Who's your friend?" asked Yusuke, catching sight of the short girl, "She looks kind of familiar."

"This is Ryuka Taiyou," replied Shinzui, pulling the brunette forward, "You saw her in my photo album." She gestured to the group in front of her. "Ryuka. This is Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko, Yukina, and Botan."

"You're much shorter in person," remarked Kuwabara, staring at her.

"I'm not short," stated Ryuka, looking up at him with her hands on her hips, "You're just too tall."

"While we're making introductions, who's this?" inquired Shinzui, nodding at the young woman.

"This is my sister," answered Kuwabara, "Shizuru."

"Nice to meet you," said Shinzui, holding her hand out.

When Shizuru took her hand, the redhead got a very strange feeling from her, but the woman only smiled.

"I see my little brother has made some interesting friends."

Shizuru and Ryuka shook hands as well, but Ryuka was not as bothered by the aura coming off the woman.

"You're pretty interesting yourself," stated the short girl with a smile.

"So you noticed?" inquired Shizuru, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm the daughter of an exorcist," answered Ryuka with a laugh, "I'd be disowned if I couldn't feel and read spirit energy." She turned to Shinzui. "You've made some powerful friends, Shin. I don't see why you worry so much."

"They can't use their powers against Tenma," stated Shinzui, "he's a normal human."

"He's not," said Hiei, "it's difficult to sense, but he _can_ use spirit energy."

"Which means they can use spirit energy against him," stated Ryuka, nodding at the female redhead, "See, Shin. No need to worry."

"Okay, knowing that makes me a bit less anxious," commented Shinzui, crossing her arms, "Now I just need to figure out how to discourage dad's colleagues."

"Are these the same ones that work at that weird lab you were talking about?" asked Yusuke, frowning.

"Yes," replied the girl, nodding, "They sent their minions after me this morning. They're really starting to get bold."

"Why were they after you?" inquired Botan, quite curious.

"My dad and his colleagues research strange things," answered Shinzui, sitting down on the couch, "I knew they were interested in people with unusual abilities and recently I found out that they're also studying demons. I think they've somehow managed to collect a few, too." She sighed. "Then yesterday, I eavesdropped on one of their meetings at my house and discovered that I'm on their list of people to study."

"Have they seen your abilities then?" asked Yusuke.

"I know when I was little I showed them my ability with plants," stated the redhead, leaning into the back of the couch, "Toraeru also saw me use raw spirit energy on that demon in the park." She shook her head. "I had no idea he was there. Still..." She frowned. "From what I heard, their interest is mostly based off of the words of some seer that spoke to them."

"A seer?" repeated Yusuke, "Aren't they scientists?"

"Scientists who study people like seers," replied Shinzui, "and the meeting happened a couple months before I was born. My dad didn't even know I was going to be a girl. He didn't want to know." She chuckled a bit. "He was rather annoyed that the surprise was ruined for him."

"What kind of prediction did she make that got them so interested?" asked Botan, sitting in a chair near Shinzui.

This started a movement and soon everyone had found a place to sit, except Hiei, who was happy to just lean against the staircase and listen. Keiko and Ryuka squashed on the couch with Shinzui while Shizuru and Yukina claimed the other armchairs. Kurama brought in kitchen chairs for Yusuke, Kuwabara, and himself.

"This feels like story time," snickered the female redhead.

"It is," stated Ryuka with a grin, "and afterwards we will have nap time and then lunch. There might even be recess."

"Only if you behave," remarked Shinzui, smiling, "Now, let's see..." She paused to think. "I don't have the seer's words memorized, but she talked about things happening in my seventeenth year. Something about a blue moon, an old soul, and demons. I don't remember much else. All I really know is that something weird is going to happen when I'm seventeen. I'm not entirely sure when though."

"So, what happened this morning?" inquired Kuwabara.

Shinzui recounted the eventful jog and most of the group laughed when they heard about sewer tactic.

"Maybe I should've just kept running," sighed Shinzui, rolling her eyes, "The fish thing is going to haunt me to the grave."

"The smell is certainly going to haunt my house for a few weeks," remarked Ryuka with a grin.

Her words made the laughter worse and eventually the storyteller joined them, pleased that she was able to be so open with them.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Auf wiedersehen, Dummköpfe - German - Good-bye, fools.

Kommen Sie herein - German - Come in.

Aw, look. I managed to make part of it kinda sappy. I must tap more Sugar Maple trees!

Why did I bring in Shizuru? 'Cause she's a fun character and I don't think she made nearly enough appearances in the manga and anime. XD


End file.
